BARCELONA: First it was Pedro ‘Pedri’ Gonzalez shining with his assists. Then the injury-prone Ousmane Dembele earned a spot in the attack. Now the oft-maligned Antoine Griez­mann is back to scoring goals.

All in all, Barcelona are slowly showing signs this season might not be a wash after all.

Griezmann scored a brace and set up Lionel Messi for one of the Argentine’s two goals on Saturday to lead Barca to a 4-0 win at Granada.

Barcelona’s first three-match winning run in the league under Ronald Koeman put them four points behind leaders Atletico Madrid, whose home game scheduled for Saturday against Athletic Bilbao was postponed due to a blizzard that has shut down the capital and made transit almost impossible through much of central Spain.

“Our situation is still complicated, but the team is betting better. We have had three games on the road and won all three,” Koeman said. “We are more focused from the start of the games now, and when we are focused and move the ball with pace, there are few teams that can control us.”

Second-placed Real Madrid were one point behind Atletico after being held at Osasuna to 0-0 in a match played in steady snowfall and with barely any scoring chances for either side.

Diego Simeone’s Atletico have three more games to play than their top title rivals.

Zinedine Zidane said Real’s game against Osasuna was “not a football match” and should have been called off.

Osasuna’s pitch in Pamplona was certainly affected by the snowfall, especially in the middle third, but large parts were green and the referee decided the game should go ahead.

“We played the game because they told us to play the game but the conditions were very difficult,” said Zidane. “For me this was not a football match. In the end we played, and that’s it.”

Griezmann got Barca started with his first goal in nearly a month in the 12th minute when a pass by Sergio Busquets was deflected to him by a Granada defender.

Griezmann set up Messi to double the lead with a left-footed shot from the edge of the area in the 36th.

Messi got his league-leading 11th goal in the 42nd when he drove a free kick under two players who jumped in the defensive barrier. It was his first goal from a free kick this season.

Griezmann rounded off the big win in the 64th when he beat goalkeeper Rui Silva from a tight angle after Dembele played him clear with a lobbed pass.

Granada played the last 12 minutes minus Jesus Vallejo, who was sent off for fouling Martin Braithwaite with only Silva to beat. Braithwaite had gone on in the 65th to give Messi a rare bit of rest with the game well in hand for the visitors.

In Pamplona, Real struggled to break down a determined Osasuna defence. Karim Benzema went closest after he scrambled the ball in, only to be called offside.

Sevilla were able to play against Real Sociedad and won a five-goal thriller 3-2, with Youssef En-Nesyri grabbing a hat-trick at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan.

Defeat means Sociedad have won only one of their last six matches. They drop to fifth, level on points with Sevilla. Sevilla also have three games in hand.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2021