Barcelona manager Xavi says the league “is nearly over” after win against Osasuna at Camp Nou; Busquets talks about his future

Barcelona took on a resilient Osasuna side at Camp Nou and came away with a 1-0 win thanks to a late goal from Jordi Alba. The blaugrana had to come up against an inspired performance from the away side’s goalkeeper, Aitor, who made countless saves to keep his side in the game until the last few minutes. Osasuna’s defensive efforts were not halted when Herrando received a red card for a foul on Pedri, and Barça had to settle for yet another 1-0 win.

The win for Barcelona puts them above Real Madrid and just 5 points away from the league title with 15 remaining. After the game, Xavi spoke to DAZN, the Spanish broadcasters of the game, in which he analysed the performance as well as clear up some doubts regarding the fitness of certain players.

‘It feels better to win like that’, says Xavi

“It was an important step for us because we suffered a lot. We missed some very clear chances. And then Jordi’s goal came, and it almost feels better to win like that. It’s the theme of the season, that we weren’t clinical. It’s a summary of the season, in which we have created lots of chances but we haven’t turned them into goals. But we played with a lot of hunger and I think we deserved the win.

Is the league over, Xavi was asked, to which he replied “it’s nearly over. The feeling is that these six points (against Betis and Osasuna) were key after the loss in Vallecas against Rayo Vallecano. We are going to wait but it’s a huge step.”

Raphinha and Gavi with injuries for Barça

Raphinha was substituted in the second half for Dembélé and the Barça boss was asked if there was an injury to the Brazilian, which Xavi confirmed: “Yes, he’s injured. We had planned for Christensen and Raphinha to continue a little more but we had to speed things up as Raphinha felt pain. Gavi was also in pain and used the change to be more attacking. He told me it hurt for him to pass and shoot and, as we needed those things, we went on the attack.”

The Barça midfielder went down after a challenge on just 15 minutes and a quarter of an hour later, he was taken off with what appeared to be an injury to his adductor. For more information and the latest updates on Gavi’s injury, check out the full breakdown of the incident.

Busquets says his future has been decided

FC Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets has been the subject of a rumour swarm since the World Cup ended, including being linked with moves to MLS and beyond. However, it appears that the paper talk is about to end, as the player simply replied “yes” when asked if he had taken a decision regarding his future. “Now we have a few days rest”, he said, “and when I come back, I’ll make a decision. From there, we’ll see.”

Barcelona, with 5 games to go in the league campaign, need just 5 points to seal the league title that has evaded them for 3 seasons. Closest rivals Real Madrid are over 10 points behind the Catalan side, and have recently been focusing on the cup competitions that are left. The race for the Pichichi, in contrast to the league title, is indeed on, with Barça’s Lewandowski (19) just two goals ahead of Karim Benzema (17).