La Liga 2023-24: Raphinha leads Barcelona win over Las Palmas, keeps pressure on Real Madrid

Second-placed Barcelona closed to within five points of leader Real Madrid before it hosts Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.

FC Barcelona’s Raphinha, Joao Felix and Vitor Roque celebrate after the match. | Photo Credit: REUTERS

Raphinha helped to reduce Las Palmas to 10 men before scoring to lead Barcelona to a 1-0 victory in the Spanish league on Saturday.

The Brazil winger was racing clear behind the defensive line when Las Palmas goalkeeper Alvaro Valles raced out of his area and crashed into him, earning a direct red card in the 24th minute.

Las Palmas bunkered down in its area until Raphinha broke through in the 59th when he headed in a perfectly floated pass by substitute Joao Felix.

“These are three important points. We will keep fighting until the end and won’t give up until the league is over,” Raphinha said about the defending champion’s chances of overtaking Real Madrid.

Second-placed Barcelona closed to within five points of leader Real Madrid before it hosts Athletic Bilbao on Sunday. The Spanish powerhouses will meet in the capital in three weeks, after the Champions League quarterfinal, where Barcelona faces Paris Saint-Germain and Madrid faces Manchester City.

Felix had a great chance to add to the lead when Jules Kounde found him alone at the far post, only for the Portugal forward to send his shot off the crossbar.

Despite being down a man, Alberto Moleiro almost equalised for the Canary Islands club in the final minutes when he hit the side netting.

“We have done our homework today and got the three points we needed to stay in the fight,” coach Xavi Hernández said after watching the game from the stands while he serves a two-game suspension for protesting.

Since Xavi said he would not continue next season after a series of painful losses, Barcelona has improved — above all in defence — and gone unbeaten in 11 straight across all competitions.

Xavi said he hoped the decision would spark a reaction in his team. Raphinha said after Saturday’s game that the turnaround was due to the players “talking about things internally and about what we needed to do to get wins.”

Xavi and his players have 11 days to prepare for PSG.

With the league taking a break next weekend for the Copa del Rey final, Barcelona won’t play again until the opening leg of its matchup against PSG on April 10.

Barcelona’s Ferran Torres returned as a second-half substitute for his first minutes since he injured his right thigh in late January.