Substitute defender Jordi Alba saved his club, Barcelona, from falling into the trap of a disappointing draw against his guest, Osasuna, by scoring the winning goal in his own net 1-0, and brought him close to crowning the first title since 2019 and the 27th in its history, Tuesday, in the thirty-third stage of the Spanish Football League.

Barcelona was on the way to stumbling in front of its guest, who played with ten players since the 27th minute, after his defender Jorge Irando was sent off, but Alba, who entered in the 76th minute in place of Alejandro Balde, succeeded in scoring the winning goal five minutes before the end of the match.

Barcelona continued its revival and achieved its second successive and twenty-sixth victory this season, strengthening its lead with 82 points, expanding the difference to 14 points from its traditional rivals and direct pursuers, the defending champion Real Madrid, who lost to its fourth host Real Sociedad 0-2.

Barcelona now needs two points to win the first league title since 2019.

As for Osasuna, who will meet Real Madrid next Saturday in the Spanish Cup final, it has fallen to ninth place with 44 points.

"I was lucky to score many goals as a fullback," Alba said in a statement to the "Dazon" broadcast network. It was important to win, it was a difficult match against a team that had a good season.

"We haven't won La Liga for a while, and for someone from here, it feels very good," he added.

It was clear that coach Xavi Hernandez wanted to kill the match early, so he started it with a pressing attack, relying on the Polish trio Robert Lewandowski, Brazilian Rafinha and Gavi.

However, the Catalan team's aspirations were not translated into reality, with Osasuna's defense steadfast in the face of many attempts to penetrate it.
An opportunity arose for Barcelona when Pedri received a ball behind the defense, so he set off towards the goal on his way to being alone with goalkeeper Aitor Fernandez, but the defender obstructed him at the edge of the area, so the referee punished him with a direct red card (27).

Despite the numerical shortage, Osasuna's net remained difficult for the "Blaugrana", who suffered a blow that was not taken into account by the injury of its midfielder Gavi in the adductor muscle in the 36th minute, after the intervention of Pablo Ibanes, so Ansu Fati entered instead.

Missed opportunities continued in the second half for Barcelona, which imposed a siege on the Osasuna penalty area, without any results, despite the Dutchman Frankie de Jong alone in the 56th minute, as goalkeeper Fernandes shone in blocking his attempt and removing it from the goal.

In the 62nd minute, French substitute Othman Dembele strangely missed a goal, after he crossed it on a silver platter from Fati, but he hit it next to the right post.

Osasuna relied on counter-attacks despite his ordeal and threatened the Catalan goal on more than one occasion had it not been for the brilliance of German goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

And between missed opportunities from Lewandowski and substitute Ferran Torres, and a canceled goal by the Polish international due to the offside of his colleague Torres as well (79), the solution came with experience through Alba, who took advantage of a header by De Young inside the area and hit it with a wonderful spiral from close range into Osasuna’s goal, giving his team three valuable points. On his way to winning the title.

Real Madrid suffered its seventh loss this season, its sixth outside its bases, and its third in its last three matches, when it fell to its fourth host, Real Sociedad, with two clean goals.

Real Madrid's balance froze at 68 points in second place and threatened to drop to third place in the event that its neighbor Atletico Madrid defeated its guest Cadiz on Wednesday, while Real Sociedad strengthened its chances of winning the last, fourth card that qualifies for the Champions League next season, after strengthening its position in fourth place. With 61 points, eight points ahead of chasing temporarily, Villarreal V, who is also a guest at Valencia tomorrow.

It seemed well that Real Madrid was affected by the absence of its Croatian stars Luka Modric and the Austrian David Alaba due to injury, the Brazilian Vinicius Junior and the French Eduardo Camavinga due to the injury and its top scorer and French captain Karim Benzema after the Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti preferred to rest him.

Real Madrid was the first to threaten his Brazilian international defender Eder Militao with a header, following a corner kick that goalkeeper Alex Remiro hardly pushed into a corner (9).

The crossbar denied Martin Subimendi from granting progress to Sociedad by returning his ball from close range, with the goal open in front of him (16).

Belgian international goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved his own goal by blocking veteran David Silva's shot from close range, before the defense dispersed it (19).

And Militao almost did it with a header from close range, which passed next to the right post (24).

Real Sociedad succeeded in opening the scoring through former Real Madrid international Japanese midfielder Takefusa Kubo, who took advantage of a wrong ball from Militao to Courtois, and followed it into the empty goal (47).

Real Madrid's ordeals increased by expelling his defender, Dani Carvajal, by meeting him with a second yellow card (61).

And Courtois saved his goal from a second goal by deflecting a powerful shot by Andre Barinichea from a free kick from outside the area (81).

Barinichea added the second goal when he received a ball inside the area from Silva, so he prepared it for himself and slid it to the right of Courtois (85).

Elche became the first to be relegated to the second division, losing to Almeria 1-2.

Almeria scored first through Brazilian striker Leo Baptistao in the 22nd minute, following a pass from his compatriot Rodrigo Eli, and Adrian Embarba added the second goal early in the second half (52), before Argentine striker Esequial Ponce scored the only goal for the guests in the last minute.

Elche suffered its 23rd loss this season, so its score stuck at 16 points in last place, 17 points behind Valencia seventeenth and the last survivor of relegation five stages before the end of the season, while Almeria strengthened its hopes of survival by rising to fourteenth place with 36 points.