La Liga 2025/26 was already very, very close to being won before Saturday’s game, and it’s even closer after FC Barcelona despatched a gritty Osasuna 2-1 at El Sadar, the goals coming courtesy of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres, with Raúl García’s strike for the home side ultimately nothing more than an anecdote.
It means the culers are now 14 points clear of Real Madrid, who travel to RCD Espanyol tomorrow at 9pm CEST. Should the all-whites fail to win that, Barça will be mathematically confirmed as champions. Should Madrid win, then Barça’s next chance to clinch the trophy will be next weekend, in nothing other than El Clásico!
Whichever way we look at it, this is a very exciting moment indeed to be a Barça fan!
Goalless first half
As for the game, although Barça had much more of the ball in the first half, with Lewandowski, Dani Olmo and Roony Bardghji all getting very tasty chances early on, Osasuna looked worryingly comfortable as they lapped up the blaugrana pressure and grew more and more into the game as half-time approached.
Ante Budimir, no stranger to causing Barça problems over the years, capped an impressive run by knocking the ball onto the post, and moments later forced a brilliant save out of Joan Garcia.
Osasuna, now safe from relegation trouble and instead eyeing a late bid for European places, were proving to be a very tough nut to crack.
Lewy heads home
The second half was also played almost entirely in Osasuna’s half, but dominant as Barça were, real chances were even fewer and farther between than they had been in the first.
Hansi Flick opted to stir things up a bit by making a number of changes. And what changes they were.
One of the incomers was Marcus Rashford, the architect of the goal that finally broke the deadlock.
Poised on the edge of the Osasuna area, the Englishman had what seemed like an age to ponder his next move. He finally made it. From a standing position, a perfect chip onto the head of the advancing Lewandowski, and all the Pole had to do was nod the ball home.
Ferran makes sure
Moments later, another of the substitutes, Ferran Torres, was on the end of a delightful through ball from Fermín López, and the chants of ‘campeones, campeones’ started ringing out from the away end.
A dozy game had burst to life. Osasuna weren’t going to be beaten that easily, and they too had a substitute to thank for the goal that extended their scoring run at El Sadar to 38 games. Budimir’s replacement, Raúl García, headed home a cross, and we were back to one goal in it.
For the first time in the game, Barça’s defence was under sustained pressure as the resurgent home side pushed for an equaliser. It mattered so much to Osasuna that even goalkeeper Sergio Herrera joined their attack for the final minutes, but it would be to no avail.
Barça held on and are returning as 2-1 winners to a Catalonia where a lot of cava is going to be sold tomorrow. Whether it gets uncorked tomorrow or will have to be saved for later is something that depends on the outcome of a game being played in the Catalan capital at 9pm CEST. Watch this space…
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