Barcelona went seven points clear at the top of the La Liga table on Saturday, as winger Raphinha put in a man-of-the-match performance to inspire a 2-0 victory over Osasuna.
The Brazil ace struck twice late in the game to give Hansi Flick’s men a seventh Primera Division win on the bounce and set a marker down to the chasing pack, which has faltered in recent weeks. The Blaugrana, now with 43 goals from 17 games, have certainly picked up the pace and they were totally dominant against Osasuna with 80 per cent possession and 24 shots to three, but the visitors were devilishly hard to break down, while Osasuna keeper Sergo Herrera made several top class saves.
Fernando Torres had a first half header ruled out by VAR as the two teams went into the half time break level, and it wasn’t until the 70th minute before Barca broke the deadlock. Midfield ace Pedri, recently back from injury, fired in a trademark through ball, inch perfect to Raphinha who took it in his stride before smashing a low shot just inside the post. And the former Leeds United man was on the mark again, coolly volleying home the ball when he was found unmarked at the far post.
After yet another victory, the latest La Liga 2025 betting odds, here at SBOTOP, have installed Barca as the clear favourites to win the title; and the pressure has been piled onto the shoulders of Xabi Alonso and his Real Madrid side, which has picked up just one win in five league games and has a tricky trip away to Deportivo Alaves on Sunday night.
Atleti are back on the winning trail
The other Madrid giants has had a dip in La Liga 2025 results over the past fortnight but Diego Simeone’s Atletico got back to winning ways with a 2-1 win over struggling Valencia. After successive defeats, against Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, Valencia presented Los Rojiblancos with an opportunity to pick up a home victory and that is exactly what they did to move up to 34 points, a point behind Villarreal whose game against Levante was abandoned due to a severe weather warning.
Atleti skipper Koke scored his first goal in well over a year to open the scoring, turning in a rebound after Julian Alvarez’ shot had been saved. Valencia fought hard and had a goal ruled out for offside by VAR as Hugo Duro had strayed, but Los Ches were level, midway through the second period, when Lucas Beltran scored a beauty, beating two defenders before curling a sweet shot into the top corner. But it was the experienced craftsman Antoine Griezmann who saved the day for Atleti when he superbly controlled a ball from Marc Pubill before smashing home the winner.
Elsewhere Sevilla picked up a second win in five league games to climb back into the top half of the table and they did it in emphatic fashion, hammering Real Oviedo 4-0. Salomon Rondon gave the hosts an early fright but Sevilla’s nerves were settled when Akor Adams took a pass from Lucien Agouma and slid the ball home. Adams then teed up the second as Djibril Sow made it 2-0 before the break and then he fashioned Sevilla’s third when he put in Batista Mendy who scored in style.
Chidera Ejuke made it 4-0 late on as Sevilla climbed to ninth and plunged Oviedo into deeper trouble in the relegation zone.
Real Sociedad’s recent recovery seems to have ground to a halt after they followed a run of seven points from three games with a blank from the next three, losing at home to Girona on Friday night. The Basque side started well and Takefusa Kubo should have scored early on, but the hosts did take the lead when Igor Zubeldia brilliantly played in Goncalo Guedes who made no mistake.
The game stayed at 1-0 until the 76th minute when the visitors levelled through Viktor Tsygankov and that goal seemed to give Girona wings, and they completed the turnaround when Tsygankov scored his second of the game with a cheeky back-heel which lifted Girona up to 18th, and level with 17th placed Valencia, just a single point behind Sociedad in 15th. In other results Espanyol’s strong start to the campaign continued as they beat Getafe to move up to fifth place and, on Sunday, Celta Vigo beat Athletic Club 2-0 to finish the weekend in eighth, a place behind the Bilbao side.
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