European football: Raphinha sinks Osasuna to consolidate Barcelona’s lead | European club football

Raphinha struck twice late within the second half as Barcelona secured a hard-fought 2-0 victory over a resolute Osasuna facet, extending their lead on the high of La Liga to seven factors. Hansi Flick’s males now sit on 43 factors, comfortably away from second-placed Actual Madrid, who’ve a sport in hand and play at Alavés on Sunday.

Regardless of their management of the sport, Barcelona struggled to interrupt down Osasuna’s deep defensive block till the seventieth minute when Pedri’s incisive cross lower by means of the guests’ defence, discovering Raphinha in his stride. The Brazilian ahead took a managed contact earlier than unleashing a thunderous strike from the sting of the world, the ball arrowing contained in the left put up to lastly break the impasse. Raphinha sealed the win within the 86th minute. A deflected cross from Jules Koundé on the best discovered the Brazilian unmarked on the far put up, and he calmly volleyed the ball into an empty web, giving the scoreline a extra comfy look.

Atlético Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann got here off the bench to information them to a 2-1 victory over struggling Valencia, serving to snap their shedding run in La Liga. Koke opened the scoring within the seventeenth minute, his first league objective in practically two years, however Lucas Beltrán supplied the equaliser for the guests within the 63rd minute with a shocking strike from the sting of the field. The objective appeared to unsettle Atlético, however Griezmann restored order 12 minutes later, the 34-year-old expertly controlling a protracted cross from Marc Pubill earlier than hammering a thunderous half-volley into the highest nook from shut vary.

Griezmann informed Dazn: “The workforce was coming off a troublesome win at PSV within the Champions League midweek. We struggled in the present day, however we substitutes got here on to search for a spark and I’m glad that we discovered it. I’m comfortable right here. I’ve a beautiful household, fantastic followers, stay in a beautiful metropolis … And I’m comfortable. I’m going to profit from each minute I get.”

Atlético stay fourth and are one level behind third-place Villarreal, who go to Levante on Sunday. Atlético are 9 adrift of Barcelona.

Within the Bundesliga, the Bayer Leverkusen substitute Martin Terrier staked a declare for objective of the season when he scored with a exceptional mid-air back-heeled volley to assist his workforce to a 2-0 victory over Cologne within the Rhine derby. The 28-year-old broke the impasse within the 66th minute, connecting with Arthur’s cross, which was behind his again, to attain with a back-heeled scorpion kick. Cologne discovered themselves 2-0 down six minutes later, with Robert Andrich powering in a header from a nook. The win lifted Leverkusen to 26 factors in fourth place, with leaders Bayern Munich, on 37, in motion towards Mainz on Sunday.

Ritsu Doan scored for Eintracht Frankfurt to finish a four-game winless run throughout all competitions with a 1-0 defeat of Augsburg.

St Pauli overcame the sending-off of Eric Smith to finish their 10-game winless run with a 2-1 victory over relegation rivals Heidenheim.Wolfsburg’s revival beneath their interim coach, Daniel Bauer, continued with a 3-1 win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. It stretched the workforce’s unbeaten run to 3 video games. Hoffenheim beat promoted Hamburg 4-1 for his or her fourth straight house win.

In France Paris Saint-Germain moved high of Ligue 1 in a single day with a 3-2 win at bottom-placed Metz, the place the champions twice had a two-goal cushion lower and Gonçalo Ramos, Quentin Ndjantou and Désiré Doué have been all on the scoresheet for the guests. Jessy Deminguet and Giorgi Tsitaishvili, ending off a high-quality transfer after a back-heeled cross from Gauthier Hein, scored for Metz. PSG are on 36 factors, two forward of Lens, who host Good on Sunday whereas Metz stay backside of the standings with 11 factors.

In the meantime, Juventus’s house owners have rejected a bid for his or her majority stake within the Serie A membership. The Agnelli household’s holding firm, Exor, determined to not settle for an all-cash supply from crypto agency Tether to purchase its whole stake in Italy’s most profitable membership. “Juve has been a part of my household for 102 years,” Exor’s chief govt, John Elkann, mentioned in a video on Juventus’ web site on Saturday.

“Juve is a part of a a lot, a lot bigger household, the Bianconeri household, made up of hundreds of thousands of followers in Italy and all over the world who love Juve the way in which you’re keen on the individuals closest to you. It’s with this ardour in thoughts, with this love story that has united us for greater than a century, that as a household we proceed to help our workforce and look to the long run to construct a profitable Juve.”

On the pitch in Italy, the Dutch midfielder Tijjani Noslin scored late for a nine-man Lazio facet to grab a 1-0 win at Parma. The guests had Mattia Zaccagni, their captain, despatched off earlier than the break for a two-footed lunge on the Parma midfielder Nahuel Estévez, and Toma Fundamental adopted him off within the second half for an elbow to the identical participant’s midriff. However Noslin shook off a defender and rounded the goalkeeper to attain the winner within the 82nd minute.

Nikola Vlasic’s first-half strike was sufficient handy struggling Torino a 1-0 house victory over Cremonese, their first in seven makes an attempt within the league, whereas Gianluca Scamacca’s double steered Atalanta to a 2-1 win towards Cagliari.