Raphinha gave 10-man Barcelona a stunning 2-1 victory at Osasuna in LaLiga as the Blaugrana overcame the loss of Robert Lewandowski in the first half to extend their lead at the top to five points.
On Tuesday, Barca fell behind to a goal from David Garcia early on and were down a man when Lewandowski received a second caution for a careless foul on the goal scorer.
Unused substitute Gerard Pique’s Blaugrana career came to a screeching halt when he was also sent out for berating the referees at halftime, but Xavi’s team rallied in the second half, starting with Pedri.
Raphinha, who had been on the bench, came off to score five minutes from time to give Barca an important victory in their penultimate match before the World Cup even though Osasuna had appeared to be the more likely winners late on.
Osasuna took the lead after just six minutes, but David Garcia’s goal was contentious since he appeared to have fouled Marcos Alonso before heading in a right-wing corner.
When Lewandowski entered an aerial duel with his forearm raised, leaving David Garcia on the ground, the Blaugrana’s situation took a turn for the worse after 31 minutes. Lewandowski had already been given a yellow card for an earlier foul on Nacho Vidal.
Barca were denied a leveller by the offside flag when Ferran Torres converted Jordi Alba’s cross and suffered another blow when Pique was shown a red card following an animated discussion with the officials at the break.
However, the Blaugrana equalised three minutes after the restart, with Pedri slotting into the bottom-left corner after Osasuna failed to clear another Alba delivery.
Osasuna went close to a winner of their own through Kike Garcia’s backheel, but they suffered late heartache when Raphinha nodded Frenkie de Jong’s searching pass beyond Aitor Fernandez for a precious win.
