Vinicius brace sees Real continue march to La Liga title

Runaway LaLiga leaders Real Madrid continued their march towards the title with an easy 4-2 victory away at Osasuna yesterday, with Vinicius Jr scoring a brace.

Real are alone at the league summit with 72 points, 10 ahead of second-placed Girona, who were set to face Getafe away later last night. Osasuna are 10th with 36 points.

Vinicius put the visitors ahead after four minutes but Osasuna’s Ante Budimir levelled the score three minutes later by slotting in a close-range shot following a corner.

Dani Carvajal restored Real’s lead after 18 minutes, using the outside of his foot to steer a curving shot into the far corner. Brahim Diaz scored the third goal for the visitors in the 61st minute, before Vinicius got his second three minutes later with a low finish from a tight angle inside the box.

In stoppage time, Osasuna got their second goal when Iker Munoz received a cutback inside the box and sent a powerful shot into the net.

Meanwhile, in England, Wolverhampton Wanderers are likely to be without Pedro Neto for the rest of the campaign due to an injury, manager Gary O’Neil said yesterday.

The 24-year-old Portuguese winger’s injury comes as the West Midlands club, ninth in the Premier League with 41 points from 28 matches, are pushing for a European spot.

Neto has three goals and 11 assists in 23 appearances across all competitions this season. “Neto is looking like it’s probably done for the season, and maybe back towards the very end of it,” O’Neil told the club’s website after a shock 3-2 home loss to Championship side Coventry City in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.

Wolves are also dealing with injuries to forwards Matheus Cunha and Hwang Heechan. They next visit fourth-placed Aston Villa on March 30, followed by a trip to lowly Burnley on April 2.

“Cunha is looking like he’ll be around it by Villa... Channy (Hwang) is probably six to seven weeks in total from when he did it, so he’s still got a fair few to go. But we need to keep working to find solutions from what we have,” O’Neil said.