Raphinha on target as Barca edges past Las Palmas
Raphinha’s second-half goal helped Barcelona edge out 10-man Las Palmas 1-0 to close the gap on LaLiga leader Real Madrid to five points.
Barcelona saw two goals chalked off for offside and Robert Lewandowski hit the bar but Las Palmas had goalkeeper Alvaro Valles sent off for a crude challenge on Raphinha outside his box after 25 minutes.
Xavi’s side was unable initially to capitalise on the extra man but Joao Felix came off the bench and provided a delicately-weighted ball over the top for Raphinha to head into the net in the 59th minute.
Felix could have given Barcelona some breathing room but conspired to hit the frame of the goal from point-blank range. However, the hosts extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 11 matches.
The Catalan giant was far from its best against mid-table opposition which is now winless in its past half-a-dozen league games but it has kept pressure on Madrid, which welcomes Athletic Bilbao on Monday (AEDT).
