Real Madrid on cusp of title after hard-fought win away at Osasuna despite missing two penalties

Real Madrid inched closer to a record 35th league title with a 3-1 win against Osasuna on Wednesday night. Real arrived at El Sadar 15 points ahead of Barcelona in second and Atletico Madrid in third, with the latter thrashing out a goalless draw with Granada to cut their lead by a point before kick off. With Barca and Atletico having a maximum 21 and 15 points left to play for respectively, Los Blancos knew that victory here would effectively leave them one more win away from being crowned champions while also making it mathematically impossible for Atleti to retain the title they won last season.

Ad/> Nonetheless, despite their relatively modest ambitions, Osasuna made the better start. They went close when Darko Brasanac capitalised on Eduardo Camavinga’s slip in midfield to play in Ante Budimir, who corkscrewed a shot just wide, before Chimy Avila tore down the right flank and lashed a ball across the face of goal which Brasanac was inches away from turning in at close range. LigaBenzema injury-time strike seals epic comeback win for Real over Sevilla17/04/2022 AT 18:10 When Real scored against the run of play with 12 minutes gone, it felt like a sucker punch.

After Dani Ceballos had drawn a foul from Javi Martinez out wide on the left, Marco Asensio teed him up to float a cross to Karim Benzema as he ghosted in at the far post. Rather than shoot, Benzema pulled the ball back for David Alaba as he sprinted into the area. Though his initial effort was saved by Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera, the rebound fell nicely for him and he scored on the follow-up.