Robert Lewandowski was the hero in El Sadar on Sunday evening, as FC Barcelona beat Osasuna 2-1 in La Liga.

Barca were lucky not to go a goal down around the half hour mark, when Jesus Areso played a clever one-two and cut the ball back for Aimar Oroz.

Luckily Ter Stegen was ready to make a fantastic one-hand save, as Oroz's effort was surely headed for the back of the net.

Jules Kounde headed home to put the visitors in front in stoppage time, as Ilkay Gundogan picked up his second assist of the season with his perfectly-flighted corner.

A pretty incident-free second half followed as Lewandowski's struggles in front of goal continued for the most part.

The Pole, who criticized La Liga officiating in an interview on Saturday with a popular outlet from his homeland, was booked in the first 45 and had to be on his best behaviour for the rest of the match.

Coming on as a substitute, Chimy Avila looked to steal headlines with his stunning equalizer.

How poor Barca were defensively was summed up in the way the ball was allowed to roll to the Argentine unchallenged, and he himself encountered few difficulties getting himself into a position to drill past Ter Stegen into his bottom right corner.

Less than five minutes later, Lewandowski did well to win a penalty. Just as he was lining up to take the spot kick, however, a VAR review followed with Barca and their fans perhaps forgiven for thinking that the decision might be overturned.

Instead, Alejandro Caetana's yellow card was turned into a red and the original decision stood. Finally Lewandowski was allowed to become the hero of the night, and converted cooly to make it two goals in his last two outings.

The 35-year-old has a way to go to catch up to Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham, on five goals, and put himself in line to reclaim the Pichici award for Spain's top scorer.

But he at least helped cut the lead Los Blancos have over the Catalans at the top of the table from five points to two in Barca's last match before the international break.

On September 16, the Blaugrana play their first home game in a month when they host Real Betis at the Montjuic in La Liga.

A few days later, their Champions League debut against Royal Antwerp follows at the same ground.