Barcelona Defeats Osasuna but Three Players Underperform

Amid a tight schedule, Barcelona failed to maintain its streak of comfortable wins in its latest match. The Catalan team defeated Osasuna 2-0 at Camp Nou, but the overall performance did not reflect the seemingly convincing scoreline.

The visitors had opportunities to claim points both in the first half and at the start of the second half: they managed to create chances in attack, and Barcelona's defensive structure was repeatedly cracked during counterattacks. However, Osasuna later withdrew excessively, allowing Barcelona's technical superiority to become the decisive factor.

In the match, both goals were scored by Raphinha: he opened the scoring in the 70th minute and sealed the result in the 86th minute. The decisive moments were driven by the efforts of Raphinha and Pedri, who pulled the team out of challenging situations.

At the same time, three Barcelona players raised more questions with their performance. Gerard Martin (4.0).

Barcelona's central defensive zone consistently faced issues during counterattacks. The offside trap functioned inconsistently, positional errors were plentiful, and Martin stood out as one of the most problematic players in this regard.

His frequent advanced positioning allowed Budimir to escape into favorable shooting positions three times. Moreover, his poor control of a clearance after a corner gifted a dangerous opportunity to Victor Muñoz.

Marcus Rashford (3.5). His best moment came from a delivery following a corner that nearly set up Ferran Torres for an assist, but the combination was ruled out for offside.

Beyond that, Rashford failed to provide the expected impact in attack: his passes were imprecise, he disrupted Balde's runs, and despite having three clear chances to shoot, he failed to find the net. Ferran Torres (3.5).

Like the prior play nullified by offside, he was also a "victim" of such situations. Although he appeared active during the match, he failed to deliver any shots on target.

Torres had excellent chances: twice failing to capitalize on rebounds near the goal line and skying a shot from the center of the penalty area in another instance. Ultimately, he left the pitch without scoring, lost possession five times, and won only one of four duels.

While the result went in Barcelona's favor, the match highlighted opportunities for Osasuna and revealed the underwhelming performances of certain players, suggesting that Hans-Dieter Flick will need to draw crucial conclusions. Read “Zamin” on Telegram!