Barcelona have moved five points clear at the top of La Liga courtesy of a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Osasuna at Estadio El Sadar this evening.
Xavi's side went into the match having seen title rivals Real Madrid suffer their first league defeat of the season on Monday night, but their hopes of extending their lead suffered a setback when they fell behind early on.
David Garcia's sixth-minute header gave the high-flying hosts a quickfire lead, and their hopes of only a second win over Barcelona in their last 13 meetings were boosted when the visitors saw Robert Lewandowski sent off.
The league's top scorer was shown two yellow cards inside the opening 31 minutes, but Barcelona still managed to launch a second-half fightback without their prolific striker.
Pedri fired home the equaliser three minutes after the interval, and Raphinha secured a valuable three points with a looping header in the 85th minute.
What a goal from former Leeds man Raphinha 👏
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 8, 2022
That ball from Frenkie de Jong 🤯#OsasunaBarca | #ITVFootball pic.twitter.com/nLGToengM8
However, there was no dream farewell for Gerard Pique in what would have been his final game for Barcelona before retirement, with the veteran defender being sent off while not even on the pitch for arguing with the referee at half time.
Barcelona's record of just four goals conceded after 13 games was the joint-best defensive start in La Liga history, but it took only six minutes for Osasuna to breach them as Garcia nodded home from a corner after losing Sergio Busquets.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when Lewandowski was shown just the second red card of his career, earning his second yellow of the game for clattering into a defender.
It's going from bad to worse for FC Barcelona 😳
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) November 8, 2022
Should Robert Lewandowski have received a second yellow for this?@ITV4 | @LaLigaEN pic.twitter.com/Fw3PBBWgBC
Pique's red card as a substitute on what was meant to be his 617th and final Barcelona appearance added to the sense that it might not be the league leaders' day, but that all changed in the second half.
Pedri got the visitors off to a perfect start after the restart when he ran on to a loose ball and fired home three minutes into the second half.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen was needed to turn an audacious long-range Ezequiel Avila effort over the crossbar 20 minutes from time, and that allowed Raphinha to clinch the win with a fine looping header from Frenkie de Jong's floated ball forward.
The result means that Barcelona have now won five La Liga games on the bounce and sit five points clear of Real Madrid, albeit having played a game more.
Barney Corkhill
