Barcelona 3-0 Osasuna: Blaugrana ease to eighth straight win to move clear in La Liga title race | OneFootball

Barcelona cruise to victory in their game in hand to send a message in La Liga title race

Barcelona have opened up a three-point lead at the top of the La Liga table thanks to a comfortable victory over Osasuna.

It means Barca were without Raphinha due to his exploits with Brazil in the early hours of Wednesday morning, whilst Osasuna left top scorer Ante Budimir - who netted twice in the reverse fixture earlier in the season - on the bench.

Originally, The two sides were to scheduled to meet earlier in the month, however, the game was postponed due to the tragic death of Barca’s doctor, Carles Minarro Garcia.

Ahead of kick-off in the rescheduled fixture, both clubs remembered Carles Minarro Garcia in a wonderful tribute.

It did not take long for Barcelona to break the deadlock as Ferran Torres - starting ahead of top scorer Robert Lewandowski - found the net as early as the 11th minute when he was in the right place at the right time to put away Alejandro Balde’s cross.

The hosts were handed an opportunity to double their lead 10 minutes later when Dani Olmo won a penalty after being fouled in the area by Sergio Herrera.

Initially, the Osasuna goalkeeper made amends for his error of judgement by guessing correctly to make a superb save.

But the penalty was ordered to be retaken following a VAR review for encroachment and Olmo made no mistake with the reprieve as he sent Herrera the wrong way to put Barca in total control.

Osasuna threatened to reduce the deficit in the second half before Lewandowski climbed off the bench to make the game safe as he put the finishes touches to a lightning quick counter-attack for his 23rd La Liga goal of the season.

An eighth straight win for Barcelona sees them move three points clear of Real Madrid, and seven clear of Atletico Madrid at the top of the table with 10 games remaining.

The only negative for Hansi Flick’s side was the injury that forced Olmo off in the first-half. With games against Girona, Atleti, Sevilla and the Champions League quarter-final with Borussia Dortmund, the German will hope it’s nothing serious.