BARCELONA: Barcelona ground out a 1-0 win over Osasuna to move third in La Liga on Wednesday as Xavi Hernandez started his long farewell as coach of the champions.
The coach said he was stepping down at the end of the season after a heavy defeat last weekend left the Catalans 11 points behind league leaders Girona.
Barcelona cut that down to eight with a largely drab win over their mid-table visitors, earned by young Brazilian striker Vitor Roque’s first goal for the club.
Osasuna had defender Unai Garcia sent off for two yellow cards, but Barcelona could not put the game to bed.
The Catalans also trail second-place Real Madrid by seven points despite playing one extra match.
“This win tastes good, it was a tough gave given what we’re coming off of, Osasuna put in a lot of intensity and the important thing is the three points and to keep adding more,” Pedri told DAZN.
“La Liga is complicated but I’ve seen worse things turn around. We’ll keep trying to add three points out of three and let’s see if those in front slip up.”
After leading Barcelona to La Liga glory last season, Xavi’s team crumbled and in January were thrashed in the Spanish Super Cup final by Real Madrid and knocked out of the Copa del Rey.
Xavi insisted he would fight on to try and win La Liga and the Champions League, hoping his decision would change the team’s dynamic but the first-half performance was as uninspired as any in his two-year tenure.
The coach brought Ferran Torres back into the side after Saturday’s 5-3 defeat by Villarreal, the final straw which saw him announce his future exit.
However the Spaniard limped off after just a few minutes and was replaced by midfielder Fermin Lopez.
Robert Lewandowski headed wide and Jules Kounde nodded over from Ilkay Gundogan corners, before Lopez’s cross-turned-shot was saved by Aitor Fernandez from a tight angle.
Explosive 16-year-old winger Lamine Yamal, starting his fourth game in 11 days for Barca, swung in a superb cross which Gundogan sent narrowly wide with a flicked header when he should have scored.
It brought the chilly Olympic Stadium to life, with some fans chanting Xavi’s name and the coach sent on Roque.
The 18-year-old, nicknamed Tigrinho — little tiger — was almost immediately on the scoresheet, netting with a smart header at the near post from Cancelo’s superb cross.
Roque’s next involvement was to draw a foul from Garcia, who was dismissed for dragging the striker down.
Barcelona capitalized on the extra space with Yamal stretching the defense and drawing a save from Fernandez, with his follow-up effort blocked too.
Substitute Raul Garcia clipped the post with a low effort after Osasuna snatched the ball back high up, which was as close as Jagoba Arrasate’s side came.
“If this team has anything, it’s faith — we tried until the end, and it’s a shame we didn’t at least get a draw,” said Osasuna coach Arrasate.
Lewandowski curled home a second for Barcelona but it was disallowed for a clear offside and the hosts saw out the final stages to keep their three points.
“I think Vitor puts a lot of speed into the game, he’s got goals, he’ll bring us a lot,” said Pedri.
“He breaks loose constantly and that’s important for the midfielders.”
Later Wednesday fourth-place Atletico Madrid host neighbors Rayo Vallecano in a derby, aiming to move back ahead of Barcelona on goal difference.
Roque fires Barca to narrow win over Osasuna
https://arab.news/9w6c6
Roque fires Barca to narrow win over Osasuna
- Barcelona cut that down to eight with a largely drab win over their mid-table visitors
- Osasuna had defender Unai Garcia sent off for two yellow cards
Morocco banish any doubts about ability to host World Cup 2030
- Impressive stadiums, easy transportation links and a well-established tourism infrastructure ensured the 24-team tournament went off without any major hitch and will assuage any doubters about the World Cup in four years’ time
RABAT: Morocco’s successful staging of the Africa Cup of Nations means there should be no skepticism about its ability to co-host the World Cup with Portugal and Spain in 2030, even if Sunday’s final was clouded by a walk-off and defeat for the home team.
Impressive stadiums, easy transportation links and a well-established tourism infrastructure ensured the
24-team tournament went off without any major hitch and will assuage any doubters about the World Cup in four years’ time.
Morocco plans to use six venues in 2030 and five of them were used for the Cup of Nations, providing world-class playing surfaces and a spectacular backdrop.
The Grande Stade in Tangier with a 75,000 capacity is an impressive facility in the northern coastal city, less than an hour’s ferry ride from Spain.
Meanwhile, FIFA President Gianni Infantino condemned "some Senegal players" for the "unacceptable scenes" which overshadowed their victory in the final when they left the pitch in protest at a penalty awarded to Morocco.
African football's showpiece event was marred by most of the Senegal team walking off when, deep into injury time of normal play and with the match locked at 0-0, Morocco were awarded a spot-kick following a VAR check by referee Jean-Jacques Ndala for a challenge on Brahim Diaz.
security personnel at the other end of the stadium, Senegal's players eventually returned to the pitch to see Diaz shoot a soft penalty into the arms of their goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
The match was played at the Stade Moulay Abdellah in the capital Rabat, which has a capacity of 69,500. The attendance for the final was 66,526.
Stadiums in Agadir, Fes and Marrakech were also more than adequate and will now be renovated over the next few years.
But the crowning glory is the proposed 115,000-capacity Stade Hassan II on the outskirts of Casablanca which Morocco hope will be chosen to host the final over Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
In all, Morocco will spend $1.4 billion on the six stadiums. Also planned is extensive investment in airports, with some 10 Moroccan cities already running direct air links to Europe and many budget airlines offering flights to the country.
An extension of Africa’s only high-speed rail service, which already provides a comfortable three-hour ride from Tangier to Casablanca, further south to Agadir and Marrakech is also planned. Morocco hopes all of this will modernize its cities and boost the economy.
On the field, Morocco will hope to launch a credible challenge for a first African World Cup success, although on Sunday they continued their poor return in the Cup of Nations, where their only triumph came 50 years ago.
They surprised with a thrilling run to the last four at the Qatar 2022 World Cup as the first African nation to get that far and will hope for a similar impact at this year’s finals in North America. They are in Group C with Brazil, Scotland and Haiti.
