Barcelona Edges Valencia to Put Pressure on Real Madrid

Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates scoring his side's opening goal during Spanish La Liga match between Barcelona and Valencia at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, March 5, 2023. (AP)
Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates scoring his side's opening goal during Spanish La Liga match between Barcelona and Valencia at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, March 5, 2023. (AP)
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Barcelona Edges Valencia to Put Pressure on Real Madrid

Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates scoring his side's opening goal during Spanish La Liga match between Barcelona and Valencia at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, March 5, 2023. (AP)
Barcelona's Raphinha celebrates scoring his side's opening goal during Spanish La Liga match between Barcelona and Valencia at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, March 5, 2023. (AP)

Barcelona kept its title-chasing momentum by beating Valencia 1-0 and increasing its lead over Real Madrid in the Spanish league on Sunday.

Raphinha scored a first-half winner for Barcelona, which missed a penalty from Ferran Torres early in the second half and then saw defender Ronald Araujo sent off.

The win at the Camp Nou stadium came three days after Barcelona defeated Madrid 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals. The Catalan club took its league lead over Madrid to 10 points, increasing the pressure on its rival. Madrid plays at Real Betis later Sunday.

Barcelona had lost two in a row — against Manchester United in the Europa League and Almeria in the league — before coming up with the big Copa victory against Madrid at the Bernabéu.

Raphinha scored with a header after a well-placed pass by Sergio Busquets in the 15th minute. Torres missed the penalty in the 55th and four minutes later Araujo was sent off for stopping a breakaway.

Barcelona got the win despite still missing some of its top players, including Robert Lewandowski, the league’s leading scorer. Ousmane Dembélé and Pedri also didn’t play because of injuries, while playmaker Gavi was out because of a yellow-card suspension.

Valencia was trying to win two in a row after a run of six consecutive losses in all competitions. It came into the Camp Nou inside the relegation zone and missing several players because of injury, including veteran striker Edinson Cavani. It dropped to 19th place, two points from safety.

It was Valencia’s third game with coach Rubén Baraja in charge after he replaced Gennaro Gattuso. Singaporean club owner Peter Lim still faces protests from Valencia fans who accuse him of poor administration and not caring for the club’s interests.

Madrid, which drew 1-1 at home against Atletico Madrid in the previous round, will visit Betis without midfielder Luka Modric because of a yellow-card suspension. Betis will be missing two key playmakers because of injuries — Nabil Fekir and Sergio Canales.

Madrid and Barcelona will play their final league game on March 19 at the Camp Nou.

Elsewhere, Valladolid defeated Espanyol 2-1 in a match between two clubs trying to stay far from the relegation zone.

Iván Sánchez scored in the 25th and Álvaro Aguado in the 62nd for Valladolid, which moved to 14th place, two points clear from the drop zone.

Martin Braithwaite netted in the 87th for Espanyol, which was 12th but stayed with the same 27 points as Valladolid.

Valladolid hadn’t won in three straight matches. Espanyol had won two in a row.



Barcelona Pair Casadó, Martínez Out of Spain’s Nations League Squad Over Injury

Soccer Football - LaLiga - Atletico Madrid v FC Barcelona - Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - March 16, 2025 Atletico Madrid's Giuliano Simeone in action with FC Barcelona's Marc Casado REUTERS/Juan Medina
Soccer Football - LaLiga - Atletico Madrid v FC Barcelona - Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - March 16, 2025 Atletico Madrid's Giuliano Simeone in action with FC Barcelona's Marc Casado REUTERS/Juan Medina
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Barcelona Pair Casadó, Martínez Out of Spain’s Nations League Squad Over Injury

Soccer Football - LaLiga - Atletico Madrid v FC Barcelona - Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - March 16, 2025 Atletico Madrid's Giuliano Simeone in action with FC Barcelona's Marc Casado REUTERS/Juan Medina
Soccer Football - LaLiga - Atletico Madrid v FC Barcelona - Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - March 16, 2025 Atletico Madrid's Giuliano Simeone in action with FC Barcelona's Marc Casado REUTERS/Juan Medina

Midfielder Marc Casadó and central defender Iñigo Martínez are out of Spain's Nations League quarter-final because of injury, the national soccer federation said Monday.
Defending champion Spain visits the Netherlands on Thursday and hosts them on Sunday in the return match.
Casadó hurt his right knee in the second half of Barcelona’s 4-2 win at Atletico Madrid in the Spanish league on Sunday. National team coach Luis de la Fuente has replaced him with Bayer Leverkusen's Aleix García.
Barcelona teammate Martínez also has a right knee problem, though the defender finished the match against Atletico. He has been replaced for the Nations League matches by Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen, a member of Spain’s under-21 squad.