Real Madrid narrowed the gap with Barcelona, the leaders of the La Liga standings, to 5 points, after beating its host Osasuna with two goals without a response, on Saturday evening, in the 22nd round of the tournament.
Real Madrid settled the confrontation in the second half, thanks to two late goals scored by Uruguayan Federico Valverde and Marco Asensio.
The holder of the “La Liga” title raised his score to 51 points, in second place behind Barcelona, leading with 56 points, which faces Cadiz on Sunday in the same round.
Real Madrid continued its clear superiority over Osasuna, who was unable to achieve any victory over the Royal Club in the last 15 confrontations between them in the Spanish League, as Real won 10 and tied in 5 others.
🏁 End of the game!
👏
Osasuna 0-2 Real Madrid
⚽ 78 ' @fedeevalverde
⚽ 90 + 1 ' @marcoasensio10
#OsasunaRealMadrid |
#Emirates pic.twitter.com/KPXG1FzoXD
- Real Madrid (@realmadridarab) February 18, 2023
Real Madrid dominated most of the first half, and had more than one opportunity to open the scoring, especially through the Brazilian duo Vinicius Junior and Rodrigo.
The most dangerous chance of the half came in the 11th minute, when Osasuna defender Yonai Garcia made a fatal mistake, as he failed to control the ball, and Junior snatched it from him, who was alone in the goal, but goalkeeper Sergio Herrera brilliantly saved it.
After that, Real Madrid repeated its attempts to reach the net of the host team, but it was unable to do so in light of the brilliance of goalkeeper Herrera, while Osasuna had some shy attempts, especially through its Moroccan striker Abdel Samad Al-Zalzouli.
In the second half, the two teams exchanged control and attempts, so Rodrigo hit a powerful ball that passed by the post, and Al-Zalzouli played a dangerous ball that Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois caught.
In the 52nd minute, the referee canceled a goal for Real Madrid by Vinicius for offside, and Ante Bodemir responded with a powerful shot, which Koroa caught brilliantly.
Vinicius continued to pose a great danger to the Osasuna goal by launching from the left side, until he was able, through one of them, to pass the ball for the first goal to Valverde in the 79th minute, and the Uruguayan player hit the ball hard into the net of goalkeeper Herrera.
Summary of the Real Madrid double against Osasuna 📺 #OsasunaRealMadrid 0-2 pic.twitter.com/JTLz7RArop
- LaLiga (@LaLigaArab) February 18, 2023
And amid Osasuna's attempts to equalise, Vinicius scored a second goal in the 89th minute, after receiving an elaborate pass from young substitute Alvaro Rodriguez, but the referee canceled it for offside after resorting to the mouse technique.
Substitute Marco Asensio shot Osasuna by scoring the second goal in the second minute of stoppage time, after another pass from Alvaro Rodriguez.