The goals took their time coming but they did in the end and FC Barcelona have beaten bottom-of-the-table Oviedo 3-0 to hold onto their one-point lead over Real Madrid at the top of the Liga table.
Following an uneventful first half in which things never quite started to click, two mishaps in the visiting defence gave Dani Olmo and Raphinha the chance to finally get things moving, and the victory was rounded out in spectacular fashion by an sheer beauty of a goal from Lamine Yamal.
And the goals came just in time, because the second half was played under increasingly difficult circumstances as the rain got heavier and heavier, building up to a full-on hailstorm in the closing minutes.
Goalless first half
In the end, a fairly comfortable win for the Catalans, but getting there proved a lot harder than the two sides’ respective positions might suggest.
Barça were enjoying the lion’s share of the possession, but when it came to actual shots, Oviedo were on top by the time the game reached its halfway stage.
Not that any of those efforts had truly troubled Joan Garcia, but try as they could, Barça weren’t exactly putting Aarón Escandell to the test either.
Robert Lewandowski was on the end of several half-chances, and Eric García also had a pop, but it wasn’t until Raphinha’s volley just before the break that the Oviedo keeper had anything serious to deal with.
Olmo and Raphinha at last
The Asturians are into their third manager of the season, and perhaps Guillermo Almada is finding the right recipe because Barça took a very, very long time to get a grip on this game. But they did in the end.
The breakthrough came on 52 minutes, and not for the first time in recent weeks, it was Dani Olmo who came to the rescue.
When the Oviedo defence made a mess of a clearance, Lamine was on it in a flash and via Raphinha the ball ended up at the feet of Olmo and that was 1-0.
Defences can’t afford to fall asleep when there are forwards of the calibre of Barça’s ready to pounce on any mistake, and just five minutes later there was another gift for the taking.
David Costas thought he was okay to slip a pass back to his keeper, but instead he played Raphinha clean through on goal and the Brazilian brilliantly chipped the ball over Escandell to make it 2-0.
Lamine stunner
It had been a nervy wait for the blaugrana supporters, but the three points were now starting to look very safe.
And what better way to make sure of it than an absolute golazo from Lamine Yamal. With a quarter of an hour remaining, he met Olmo’s chip with a bicycle kick and pumped the ball toward the sweetest spot possible to score perhaps his most stunning goal yet.
With that piece of beauty and with the rain thundering down on Spotify Camp Nou, there was no further story to this game other than the increasingly adverse weather conditions.
Hail Barça!
The final few minutes were somewhat surreal, played under a torrential hailstorm with thunder and lightning in the air and only the most hardy of supporters still in their seats.
By no means a vintage performance from the Catalans, but they had found the goals when they needed them and once they’ve dried off will get to enjoy another week sitting pretty at the top of the table.
Next up it’s Copenhagen in the Champions League. That, along with all the other last-day fixtures, is a 9pm CET start. See you there!