Only a couple days after our last game, we’re back in action later this evening. At 7:30pm local time, Barça will be facing Osasuna live from the Spotify Camp Nou. It’s a quick turn around from our last game against Betis on Saturday. And we’ll be looking for the same sort of performance we saw back on the weekend. It was a really impressive display, and much more like how we are used to seeing Barca play under Xavi. It’s yet another vital game, against one of the best performing teams in La Liga all season. It’ll be interesting to see how Osasuna lineup vs Barça, considering they will be playing in the Copa Del Rey final this weekend.
A quick look at our opponent:
Osasuna have had a fantastic season by their standards. They’re in the Copa Del Rey final after a really impressive run. They’ve also been very consistent in La Liga and have come up with some big results over the course of the campaign. One of the major reasons as to why they have had such a productive season, is partly thanks to us. Barça loaned, Abde Ezzalzouli has had a remarkable season at Osasuna. And is expected to return to Barça in the summer and be apart of the first team next season. He’s a gifted talent who would solve so many problems for us on the left wing. So it’ll be exciting to see him return. He wont, however, be playing against us tonight due to the “fear clause” in his loan contract. As far as Osasuna’s form goes, they’ve won 3 and lost 2 of their last 5 games, with their most recent result coming as a 2-0 loss to Real Sociedad.
Predicted lineup:
When it comes to the lineup, i think we should keep it exactly the same as how we started against Betis. It’s our best and most effective set up by far. The box midfield with Pedri, Busi, Gavi and Frenkie allows us to play our game. We looked a lot more like our normal selves on the weekend and we have to continue with that. Christensen returning to the defence was a incredible boost. He really is an incredible signing. To think we got him for free last summer. It was a remarkable piece of business. Ansu had a really good impact when he came off the bench. And i think he is slowly looking a lot more like his old self. It’s a process with Ansu. So we’ve just got to be patient with him. But there’s definitely been positive signs. I don’t think he will start, as Raphinha had a stunning performance the other night too. But he could definitely come off the bench again. And hopefully have a similar impact.
It’ll also be exciting to see if 15 year old wonder kid, Lamine Yamal can get any more minutes in the team. He came on for about 10 minutes against Betis, and i think he shocked all of us with his lack of nerve. Lamine almost assisted 2 goals and scored a goal in a few minutes. He just didn’t look phased by the occasion at all. He’s definitely a very special talent, that we have to take the utmost care with.
My starting 11:
Ter Stegen
Kounde- Araujo- Christensen- Balde
Pedri- Busquets- Frenkie- Gavi
Raphinha- Lewandowski
