Barcelona continued their miserable away form in La Liga by going down 3-2 to Osasuna at the Estadio El Sadar, opening up the door for Real Madrid to lay serious claim to their first title in four years. With the defending champions fielding an under-strength lineup, it always looked as though the hosts could be dangerous, and so it proved just four minutes in as Dejan Lekic raced clear of the Barca defence, slotting past Victor Valdez to make it 1-0.
Osasuna Vs. Barcelona, 2012 La Liga: Another Disappointing Away Performance For Barca
The Catalans, of course, responded strongly, but barely had Alexis Sanchez had a goal disallowed (probably incorrectly) for offside than Lekic struck again to make it 2-0, the Serbian able to latch onto a loose ball in the box and blast it into the back of the net. It took Barcelona until halftime to regroup, the visitors lacking any kind of coherency as they tried to attack Osasuna (Sanchez disallowed goal aside), but they finally clawed one back via the moody Chilean, Sanchez notching from close range in the 51st minute.
The 2-1 scoreline didn’t last long though - Nino’s cross to Raul Garcia was poked home by the midfielder five minutes later - and Osasuna had reestablished their two-goal cushion. Cristian Tello made things interesting once more with fifteen minutes to go, cutting inside his man and firing a left-footed shot into the roof of the net, and although the hosts attempted to respond immediately through Francisco Punal it was actually Barcelona who had the next goal with a close-range header from Sanchez.
Unfortunately for the visitors, Sergi Roberto’s deflection ensured that the Chilean was offside, and despite the resultant histrionics said goal was chalked off. A flurry of Barcelona attacks followed, but they simply couldn’t penetrate Andres Fernandez’s guard, and the match ended at 3-2. So, Barcelona have once again dropped points, and Madrid have the chance to go ten points up with 16 games to play in La Liga. Is the race over?
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