BARCA BOOST LALIGA TITLE CHARGE AFTER EDGING OUT LEGANES
Barcelona moved seven points clear at the LaLiga summit after a narrow 1-0 win over lowly Leganes.
Jorge Saenz's own-goal early in the second half was enough to give the Blaugrana victory at Estadio Municipal de Butarque.
Leganes were 1-0 winners in December's reverse fixture, and they went close in the 12th minute, with Wojciech Szczesny producing a smart reflex save to deny Adria Alti from Dani Raba's cutback.
At the other end, Marko Dmitrovic reacted quickly to push away Jules Kounde's deflected cross, which was drifting dangerously towards the top corner.
However, Barca broke through within three minutes of the restart, as Jorge Saenz turned Raphinha's low cross into his own net.
Fermin Lopez pulled a brilliant opportunity wide of the post soon after, but the visitors were forced to hold onto their lead.
Dani Raba saw a header ruled out for offside, while substitute Diego Garcia shot wide with only Szczesny to beat.
Inigo Martinez then produced a perfectly timed sliding challenge in stoppage time to prevent former Barca forward Munir El Haddadi from getting a shot away, as Barca held out to move a step closer to the LaLiga title.
LALIGA LEADERS BARCA MOVE SEVEN POINTS CLEAR
This was a good chance for leaders Barca to open a seven-point lead at the top, as second-place Real Madrid won't play until Sunday. Although, the Blaugrana will have been wary, having lost the reverse fixture 1-0 in December.
During the first half, the hosts, who were attempting to climb out of the bottom three, came closest to scoring. However, Barca persevered and, aided by good fortune, scored Jorge Saenz's own goal, which proved to be the game-winning goal. Flick's team had to fight through a few scares later on to put more pressure on Madrid ahead of their matchup with Alaves on Sunday.
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