La Liga: Real Madrid cruise pass Osasuna to reignite title hopes
Real Madrid left it late to beat Osasuna 1-0 in Pamplona to keep their La Liga hopes intact.
Federico Valverde made a gut-busting run to get on the end of a Vinicius Junior cross to put Madrid ahead in the 78th minute.
Osasuna controlled the majority of a relatively uneventful first half and had better chances to go ahead.
Lucas Torro got himself in a great position, unmarked, to latch on the end of a cross, but Ante Budimir got in his way and guided a stretched header over the bar in a let-off for Madrid.
The visitors struggled to make an impact in Osasuna’s final third, with most of the ball played in their own half, and Vinicius became visibly frustrated as chances came few and far between.
Another great chance fell to the hosts minutes before the break, with Budimir getting on the end of a deflected cross that fell into his path on the edge of the box, but as he tried to wrap his foot around the ball, he sent it just wide.
Madrid upped their game a gear in the second half and had two good chances to make an impact.
Rodrygo chopped inside and unleashed a dangerous shot but it flashed across the face of goal before going wide, and Vinicius did excellently to weave past the Osasuna defence before Sergio Herrera rushed off his line to deny him from close range.
Osasuna came closest to a breakthrough when Moi Gomez cut inside and struck the post with a low effort from the edge of the box.
The home side continued to threaten, but couldn’t turn chances into goals.
They would go on to rue their missed opportunities, however, when Madrid burst down the field and Valverde broke the deadlock in the 78th minute.
In a really worked move, Luka Modric – given a free rein – slipped the ball to Vinicius on the left flank, whose pass matched Valverde’s run in the middle of the box, and the midfielder dispatched instinctively to put Madrid ahead.
Madrid thought they had a second through Vinicius in the first minute of additional time, but it was ruled out for offside following a VAR check.
They did however find the net a second time one minute later when Marco Asensio doubled Los Blancos’ lead.
The result means Madrid remain second but close the gap on league leaders Barcelona to five points, with the latter in action on Sunday night.
