Madrid Win at El Sadar

Real Madrid did not let up in the fight for the league title and picked up three more points in Pamplona. The hard-earned victory was sealed with a goal from Valverde in the 78th minute, after an assist from Vini Jr, and another from Asensio in stoppage time from an Álvaro Rodríguez pass. Fourth consecutive win for the Whites, who have now gone two games unbeaten.

The first half didn't produce very many close chances. The clearest chance fell to Ancelotti's side after ten minutes; Moncayola made an error in the back-pass to the keeper and Vini Jr. found himself one-on-one with Sergio Herrera. The goalkeeper was up to the challenge however, helped by the fact that the Brazilian was at a tight angle. In the 43rd minute, Osasuna's high-intensity pressing had an effect and Budimir's shot after Osasuna's recovery in the opposing area narrowly missed the target.

Further chances
The second half was a whole different ball game. The pace ratcheted up a notch and the chances quickly began to flow. The first fell to Rodrygo on the edge of the box and his beautiful curling effort whistled just the wrong side of the hosts’ post with 47 minutes on the clock. Osasuna hit back when Budimir’s back-heeled effort was kept out by the diving Courtois. The complexion of the game had changed entirely now and four minutes later, Vini Jr. cut inside Moncayola so go one-on-one with Sergio Herrera, but the goalkeeper didn’t fall for the winger’s dummy and took the ball comfortably into his gloves.

As the minutes ticked by, Osasuna caused problems with a couple of strong long-range efforts. First, Moi Gómez’s strike crashed back off the upright with 62 minutes gone, before Moncayola, narrowly failed to catch Courtois out. Up the other end, Vini Jr. enjoyed the best chance of the night so far with 74’ on the clock, coming up against Sergio Herrera once more but being unable to get the better of the shot-stopper. Four minutes later and it was 0-1 as Vini Jr. played provider for Valverde, who was on hand to finish from near the penalty spot.

Second clean sheet on the bounce 
It looked as though the world champions were going to have a tough final few minutes as they looked to hold onto their lead at El Sadar, but they needn’t have worried. In the 89th minute, Vini Jr. saw his goal chalked off for off-side following a VAR review, before Asensio did make sure of the points in injury time when he turned home following fine work to win the ball back by academy graduate Álvaro Rodríguez.