Raphinha scores 2 as Barcelona wins to add pressure on Real Madrid's Alonso before crunch game

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Raphinha scored a brace as Barcelona beat Osasuna 2-0 to increase its La Liga lead on Saturday and pile more pressure on beleaguered Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso.

The Brazil forward broke the deadlock with a shot from the top of the area in the 70th minute at Camp Nou. He then put the result beyond doubt by scoring from close range with six minutes remaining.

A seventh league win in a row left the defending champions seven points clear of Real Madrid before its game at Alaves on Sunday. That is likely a must-win game for Alonso after the powerhouse has won just two of its last eight games across all competitions.

Madrid had led Barcelona by five points in the Spanish league after winning a clasico match in late October. But a huge dip in form with just one win in five rounds, including a humiliating 2-0 defeat to Celta Vigo at home last weekend, has left Madrid reeling.

Relishing the trouble of Barcelona's top rival, the Camp Nou crowd chanted “Stay Xabi! Stay Xabi!” in Spanish at one point during the Osasuna match.

Raphinha, however, stayed focused on his team.

“We need to focus on ourselves and if we do our job then we won’t have to worry about anyone else,” Raphinha said. “We are playing better than before and the more points, the better.”

Raphinha was key to Barcelona winning La Liga and Copa del Rey last season, when Hansi Flick’s side also reached the Champions League semifinals.

Barcelona struggled to replaced his speed and incisiveness when Raphinha was sidelined with a leg injury for six weeks earlier this campaign. But he has returned as strong as ever. He also assisted in a 3-1 victory over Alaves in late November and scored in a 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid earlier this month.

Sixteenth-placed Osasuna generated little in attack but its defense and goalkeeper Sergio Herrera frustrated Barcelona until Raphinha struck. Herrera saved a shot by Lamine Yamal while Marcus Rashford's goal-bound effort was blocked by a defender.

Raphinha's first goal came after Barcelona recovered the ball and Pedri González led a counterattack before laying off for him to score from distance. His second was easier: a tap-in after Osasuna defender Alejandro Catena redirected a cross from Jules Koundé to the far post where Raphinha was unmarked.

Antoine Griezmann scored the winner after coming off the bench to help fourth-placed Atletico beat Valencia 2-1 and stay nine points behind Barcelona.

Griezmann replaced Julián Álvarez with half an hour to go with Atletico leading after Koke Resurrección scored from a rebound in the 17th.

Lucas Beltrán pulled the visitors level in the 63rd with a shot from outside the area as the Argentine striker skirted past a defender and lashed a long strike just inside the post.

Griezmann restored the lead in the 74th at the Metropolitano Stadium when he used an exquisite control, hooking down a long ball with the tip of his boot, before he fired in the winner.

The 34-year-old Griezmann has taken a more limited role with Atletico this season, but he is still proving to be decisive. The former France star scored two goals as a substitute in a 3-1 win over Levante last month and also netted after coming on in the second half against Sevilla and Real Madrid.

His winner against Valencia increased his record haul for Atletico to 204 career goals.

The loss for Valencia will increase the pressure on coach Carlos Corberán with the team in 17th place just on the edge of the relegation zone.

Leandro Cabrera’s header helped Espanyol beat Getafe 1-0 on the road and secure a fourth consecutive league win.

Espanyol is the surprise of the season approaching the winter break. The Barcelona-based team is in fifth place after 16 rounds, having barely avoided relegation on the final day of last season.

Also, Mallorca beat Elche 3-1. The game was tied 1-1 until Elche keeper Iñaki Peña gifted the ball to Mallorca’s Omar Mascarell, who lobbed the ball over Peña's head from near midfield for the go-ahead goal in the 82nd.

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Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates after scoring during a La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Osasuna in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Froem the left, Barcelona's Ferran Torres,Raphinha and Marcus Rashford hug after a goal during a La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Osasuna in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates after scoring during a La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Osasuna in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates after scoring during a La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Osasuna in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona's Raphinha and Lamine Yamal celebrate after a goal during a La Liga soccer match between Barcelona and Osasuna in Barcelona, Spain, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025. AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Mohamed Salah's long goodbye to Liverpool begins on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup, the competition which represents his best chance of a trophy in his final year at Anfield.

The Egypt winger announced last week that he will be leaving Liverpool at the end of the season after nine years at a club where he has broken scoring records and established himself as one of the world's best players.

Salah potentially has 15 games left in the famous red shirt: Seven in the Premier League as well as three in the FA Cup and five in the Champions League, should Liverpool reach the final in both of those competitions.

That won't be easy.

In the Champions League, defending champion Paris Saint-Germain is up next in the two-leg quarterfinals and it's pretty much as tough in the FA Cup, with Liverpool handed an away match at Manchester City.

Salah, who has 255 goals in 435 appearances for Liverpool, missed the Reds' last game before the international break — a 2-1 loss at Brighton in the league — with a muscle injury but has told manager Arne Slot he should be healthy enough to return this weekend.

“He just does so much for his body for such a long time that he recovers so fast," Slot said on Wednesday. "So, he will train with the team again tomorrow and if everything works well then he’s available to be with us at City.”

The 33-year-old Salah was left out of the Liverpool team for four straight games at the end of 2025 in what appeared to be a breakdown in his relationship with Slot and the club.

Since returning from the Africa Cup of Nations, Salah virtually has been an ever-present in the lineup, seemingly winning the Dutch coach round.

“That hunger never drops,” Slot said of Salah. "It's the thing I find most special about him. So many good players around the world — he's definitely one of them in the last 10 years — and to show that hunger every three days, that professionalism, that commitment to the club and to the team, wanting to score again, always wanting to play ...

“When you take him out three minutes before the end, he's like, ‘Ah, maybe I could have scored one extra.’”

City, meanwhile, is seeking a domestic cup double after beating Arsenal in the English League Cup final on March 22. Pep Guardiola's team is also chasing Arsenal in the Premier League, which takes a break this weekend to give the FA Cup its own space in the calendar.

The other FA Cup quarterfinals take place across Saturday and Sunday.

After City-Liverpool in the early kickoff on Saturday, Chelsea hosts third-tier Port Vale — the lowest-ranked team left in the competition — before Arsenal visits second-tier Southampton.

On Sunday, West Ham hosts Leeds in an all-Premier League matchup.

Manchester City midfielder Phil Foden has less than two months to persuade England coach Thomas Thomas he is worthy of a place in the World Cup squad.

Foden started both of England’s recent friendly games — a draw with Uruguay and a loss to Japan — but failed to impress either in the No. 10 role or as a “false nine," prompting Tuchel to say it's “ not a guarantee ” that Foden will be at the World Cup.

Foden was English soccer's player of the year in the 2023-24 season but has not maintained his top form and has rarely started for City in recent months.

Arsenal's team sheet for the Southampton game will be heavily scrutinized, given 10 players missed games for their national team over the international break because of various issues.

Eberechi Eze, Jurrien Timber and Martin Odegaard already had injuries that caused them to miss the League Cup final, before Piero Hincapie, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Leandro Trossard all pulled out of international duty.

England's Noni Madueke and Spain's Martin Zubimendi missed the second games for their respective countries after reporting injuries.

There might be growing disharmony at Chelsea, going off recent comments by two of the team's best players.

Enzo Fernandez said after elimination in the Champions League that he couldn't guarantee being at Chelsea next season, while Marc Cucurella told The Athletic during this international break that the team was “more stable” under coach Enzo Maresca, who was fired in January, and, "If you asked me, I would not have made this decision.”

Liam Rosenior, the current Chelsea coach, is under big pressure after four straight defeats.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

England's Phil Foden holds the ball during the international friendly soccer match between England and Uruguay in London, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

FILE - Liverpool's manager Arne Slot talks to Mohamed Salah during the Premier League soccer match between Liverpool and Tottenham in Liverpool, England, Sunday, March 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Super, File)