Raphinha extends Barca's Liga lead

Madrid, Dec. 15: Raphinha hit a brace to give Barcelona a narrow 2-0 win over Osasuna on Saturday and take them seven points clear at the top of La Liga.

Atletico Madrid, fourth, returned to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Valencia sealed by a fine Antoine Griezmann strike, while Espanyol, fifth, continued their strong start with a 1-0 win at Getafe.

Barcelona's Brazilian winger Raphinha broke the deadlock after 70 minutes with a fizzing strike from the edge of the box, and added a second late on to earn Barca their seventh-straight top flight win.

Barca lacked their usual sparkle but ground out their victory, keeping a first clean sheet in six matches across all competitions. They also recorded a fifth victory in five games at their partially reopened Camp Nou home.

"Raphinha is very important. He scored two goals and is a key player. He defends and attacks -- he's very important for us," said Flick.

"Maybe we didn't have many chances, but we scored two goals and got the three points."

"We've got a lot of good players and Rapha, or whoever else plays inside, in the end they give us a lot of solutions in that position," said Barca defender Gerard Martin. Goals by captain Koke and Griezmann brought Diego Simeone's fourth-placed Atletico Madrid some respite, although they trail Barca by nine points.

Atletico had muscled their way back into the Spanish title race after a slow start to the season, before suffering damaging consecutive Liga defeats by Barca and Athletic Bilbao at the start of December.

They followed up a Champions League victory at PSV in midweek with a solid display at their Metropolitano stadium against Los Che.

Salah back in Liverpool fold

Mohamed Salah played a key role in Liverpool's vital win against Brighton on Saturday after an explosive interview raised questions over his future at the club as Arsenal avoided a major embarrassment against Wolves.

The Egypt forward, the subject of intense scrutiny in the build-up to the game at Anfield, came off the substitutes' bench to huge cheers in the first half, replacing injured defender Joe Gomez.

The home team, whose Premier League title defence has collapsed after a shocking run of results, were leading 1-0 at the time, with France forward Hugo Ekitike on the scoresheet after just 46 seconds.

Brighton squandered a number of opportunities to level and Ekitike scored his second with half an hour to go, heading home Salah's corner.

The Egyptian superstar now has 277 goal involvements for Liverpool in the Premier League -- 188 goals and 89 assists -- a new record by a player for a single club in the competition, overtaking Wayne Rooney's mark for Manchester United.

After Saturday's win Slot said there was "no issue to resolve" with Salah, though uncertainty remains over his long-term future at the club.

"For me he's now the same as any other player," said the Dutchman.

The 2-0 win -- Liverpool's first at Anfield since November 4 -- lifts Slot's men to sixth in the table.

But their title defence is in ruins after a terrible run of just two wins in 10 league matches before the visit of Brighton.

The Reds are 10 points behind leaders Arsenal, who narrowly avoided dropping vital points against bottom side Wolves in Saturday's late kick-off, courtesy of two own goals in a 2-1 win.

Arsenal had huffed and puffed for 70 minutes before the ball rebounded off Wolves goalkeeper Sam Johnstone and into his own net.

Astonishingly, Wolves pulled level in the 90th minute but just as the home fans contemplated a damaging draw, the Gunners benefited from a second own goal when Bukayo Saka's cross was diverted into his own net by Wolves defender Yerson Mosquera in the 94th minute.

Earlier, Cole Palmer, whose season has been badly disrupted by a groin injury, scored his first goal since September, as Chelsea beat Everton 2-0 to move back into the top four. (AFP)