Yamal hits stunner as Barcelona sink Oviedo to reclaim top spot

Barcelona reclaimed top spot in La Liga with a 3-0 win over Real Oviedo on Sunday, thanks to goals from Dani Olmo, Raphinha and an acrobatic Lamine Yamal effort.

After Real Madrid beat Villarreal on Saturday to take pole position overnight, the Catalans edged a point ahead again.

Earlier, Atletico Madrid eased to a 3-0 win over Mallorca to strengthen their position in third and move eight points behind Barca.

Although Oviedo are bottom of the table with just two victories all season, Barca had to scrap for their victory as the visitors worked hard defensively to keep Hansi Flick’s team at bay until the second half.

Eventually the hosts’ quality told at the partially-reopened Camp Nou and after Olmo opened the scoring Barca never looked back.

The pick of the goals was teenager star Yamal’s strike, an impressive volley from Olmo’s cross to secure Barca’s triumph.

“We have game after game, a lot of travel, we came back late at night (from Prague in midweek), almost no days off, and that’s what you also have to see,” Flick told reporters, defending his players after they struggled to make inroads in the first half.

“In the first half we struggled a little bit, we didn’t have the confidence we normally need... but in the end the second half was much better.”

The coach praised Yamal for his hard work in terms of pressing and said it was even more crucial than his impressive strike.

“For me, much more important was the first goal, how he pressed, that he recovered the ball, that we scored the first goal because that was the key to open this game for us and get the three points,” explained Flick.

“It was more important than the third goal but everyone loves to see this in football and I’m happy he scored such a (great) goal.”

Barca could not get out of first gear in a dry first half and their passing was unusually imprecise.

Injured midfield maestro Pedri Gonzalez watched on from the stands with an unimpressed expression.

They came out with renewed energy for the second half and soon took the lead.

After Yamal and Raphinha pressed in the box the ball broke loose to Olmo, who steered home.

Oviedo gave away a poor second goal after 57 minutes, with Raphinha running on to an undercooked back-pass from David Costas and lobbing home.

Barcelona’s third was expertly taken by Yamal, as Olmo’s cross was falling behind him he produced an eye-catching sideways scissor-kick to wrap up the victory.

“We are talking about a player from another galaxy,” said Oviedo coach Guillermo Almada of Barca’s 18-year-old star.

“He has so much quality and delivers in key moments in games.”

Laporta upset by impending Dro switch to PSG:

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that teenage talent Dro Fernandez’s decision to leave the club for a planned move to Paris Saint-Germain, despite having previously agreed a new deal with the Catalan giants, was “unpleasant”.

Central midfielder Dro, 18, is poised to join French giants PSG, with Spanish media reporting that they will pay Barca slightly more than his six-million-euro ($7 million) release clause as a goodwill gesture.

“We will speak when it’s all done, it has been an unpleasant situation,” Laporta told Catalunya Radio late on Sunday.

“It came as a surprise because we had agreed on a different solution for when he turned 18,” continued the Barca chief.

“Surprisingly, his representative told us he couldn’t follow through on what we’d agreed to.”

Elsewhere, Real Betis and Celta Vigo suffered setbacks in their hopes for European football next season.

Sixth-placed Betis fell to a 2-1 defeat at Alaves, who rose to 15th, while Celta, seventh, were beaten 3-1 at Real Sociedad.

Agence France-Presse