TalkBarca is back with match review of Osasuna vs FC Barcelona. It was an extremely anxious away fixture for the Blaugranas. Moreover, the unbeaten run of Osasuna was also a mental pressure for Barca players. It promised to be a tough outing at El Sadar and the result proved it.

The match ended 2-2 draw which is disappointing for the Catalonia fans. Osaunsa fans ended up pretty satisfied with this result as their unbeaten streak continues, something unwanted for Barca fans. Osasuna stands at 5th position with 5 points. Meanwhile, Barcelona is 1 point down with 4 points.

Osasuna went 1-0 up courtesy of a great volley from Roberto Torres in the 7th minute. The Cules went silent as the shot from Torres hit the back of the net. Things sparked up again as the promising youngster, Ansu Fati equalized and Barca stood with joy. Arthur Melo also delivered the 2nd goal which promised to bring in all 3 points. However, a late equalizer from the home side completely shut things down for the away team and thus, the match ended in a draw.

Let us take a deeper look into the Osasuna VS Barcelona match review. In this match review, we will be taking a look at the positive for Barca and we would see where did things get out of hand. Let’s get started!

OSASUNA VS FC BARCELONA MATCH REVIEW

FC Barcelona Lineup:

We will take a closer look at the starting line-up as well as the bench for this fixture.

The Starting XI:

The starting XI for Barcelona was pretty similar to what we saw against Real Betis. This lineup was also very predictable as Lionel Messi, Suarez, Dembele are out injured. Furthermore, Neto is also facing an injury while some players are unfit to play in away conditions.

Goalkeeper and Defenders:

In goal was Marc Andre Ter Stegen which is the most predictable pick out of all eleven. Lenglet and Gerrard Pique started as Centre Backs. Meanwhile, Jordi Alba started as left wingback and Semedo started as right wingback. The defense line looked pretty decent on paper and it looked as if Osasuna will have trouble to penetrate into this defense. Gerrard Pique is obviously a very senior figure in the Barcelona lineup. Similarly, Jordi Alba is also a key player in the Catalonia defense. Both of them had a lot to do in this game and fans were expecting them to deliver on the key performances on the night.

Lenglet played slightly further than Pique so that he could linkup play with central midfielders. Gerrard Pique played his typical stopper role.

Midfielders:

The midfield is very debate-able aspect in this lineup. Sergio was playing in the center of the park. De Jong played on the left mid and Roberto on the right. Osasuna is a physically more oppressing side than Betis. Valverde should have been more creative with his midfield choices. De Jong is not the player to participate much in the attack. Instead, he plays a holding midfielder role and he is a kind of player which will work to maintain dominance in the center of the field. Playing him out of his position lead to a poor performance from him which we will discuss later in the match review.

Valverde could have used Arturo Vidal which would have made Barca side physically better. Also, he could have made Arthur Melo start alongside De Jong. This would have ensured more ball possession and eventually, more chances.

Attackers:

The three up front were the same which played the previous fixture. Antoine Griezmann played as Central Striker. Carlos Perez played at the right wing and Rafinha on the left wing.

The Bench:

The Barcelona bench had a lot of depth in it. Vidal, Rakitic and Arthur Melo are among the big names which were expected to be seen playing in the midfield position.

Ansu Fati, who delivered a fantastic performance in the previous fixture was also on the bench and he was subbed on later in the game. Furthermore, Inaki Pena and Samuel Umtiti added more to the Catalan bench and this side looked pretty strong on paper to play against Osasuna.

Ernesto Valverde made three substitutions. These included bringing in Ansu Fati, Arthur Melo and Vidal. Ansu became the first substitution to be made at half time. He came in place for Semedo. This substitution changed the team dramatically. Roberto moved to Right Back, Rafinha drifted into the midfield, and Ansu Fati took the responsibility at the left wing. Secondly, Arthur came in at the 53rd minute in place for Rafina. Lastly, Arturo Vidal came later in the 82nd minute of the game to replace Frenkie De Jong.

In-depth Review of Notable Individual Performance:

Lenglet and Gerrard Pique:

Both Lenglet and Pique picked up yellow cards during the game. This shows that the Osasuna attack was pressurizing them quite often during the game. Defenders usually commit deliberate fouls when the attacker has clearly gone past them and there is no way to recover. Pique also has a huge role in this draw as he gave away a penalty in the dying minutes of the game. This was something not expected from such a senior player. However, lack of attention in his own box lead to a loss of 2 points for his team.

De Jong:

Frenkie De Jong also performed poorly. He is one of the most anticipated players for the Barca fans, yet he failed to deliver on the day. The reason for this is also that he was made to play out of position. Frenkie is the player who will deliver his best performance operating from the center of the park or in double pivot as we saw him in Ajax. However, this didn’t happen and Vidal came in at his place. The question still remains for who is to blame for this performance? Him or Ernesto Valverde?

Ansu Fati and Carlos Perez:

Both La Masia products played promisingly. Ansu Fati grabbed his first goal for the club in his second game. He also made exceptional efforts during the game covering a lot of ground. He is just 16 years old and has yet to play 90 minutes for the first team. I am telling you, this boy is something else. He isn’t a tall figure but that header there and its timing was impeccable.

Carlos Perez, on the other hand, provided 2 assists and played a key role in building up attacks. However, he failed to score a fairly simple chance which was in the dying moments of the game. Author Melo setup the chance perfectly for him and it could have been a match-winning goal. This shows his young behavior and lack of composure in front of the goal. He was a little hesitant to take the shot, he delayed the short until the chance was gone. Hopefully, he’ll be better in the upcoming games.

Griezmann:

Many people are criticizing Griezmann over this draw. People wanted to see a dominant performance from his side. I still believe it was a decent performance by Griezmann considering the situation of the game. We didn’t see his best performance because he was left isolated. He often had to drop deep into the midfield just to get a touch of the ball.

We expect Greizmann to drop deep like Messi to collect the ball and create chances. However, even when he dropped deep, there was nobody up front to make those deadly forward runs. Usually, Suarez is there to make those runs but it was a different story today. So, without anyone up front, Griezmann could not do anything except making back passes and sideways passes.

When you have only one true forward in your team, you have to play him as a target man. It’s the job of the midfield and the wingers to feed him the ball to make a difference. When you have a sole striker and he is isolated, it’s as if you are playing with 10 men.

Arthur Melo:

For me, Arthur Melo was the best player on the pitch today. Our midfield was struggling before he came on as a substitute. We didn’t have control and we lacked creativity. It was Arthur who ignited the midfield right after he came on. His presence brought control in the midfield. Most importantly, he scored a phenomenal goal to take lead for Blaugrana. His passing was absolutely amazing. He created a great chance for Carlos Perez with a through ball cutting through the defense. It’s a shame Perez couldn’t finish it.

Arthur has already shown his class over the past year with Barcelona and Brazil. I think, he should be a starter this season. I don’t understand why he didn’t play the past 2 games. May be Valverde was resting him after Copa America just to make sure he has enough rest before jumping into action. However, now that he is back, I would love to see more of him in the upcoming games. His presense improved the performance of De Jong in the second half as well. I am really excited to see Arthur and De Jong to formup a partnership in the midfield.

Verdict:

The Blaugranas after this draw, sit at 5th on the points table. Also, Real Madrid’s fixture will also be an important one considering our run in the title race. Messi will return after the International break and with his return, magic will also return at Barca. For the moment, Athletico Madrid is already far ahead of us in the title race. But let’s hope we can cover the deficient in the upcoming games.

I assure you that we will back stronger than ever before So, that was all today from TalkBarca. I hope you like the match review of Osasuna vs Barcelona. What do you think about this game and the performance of the players? Let us know in the comments section. Visca El Barca!

You can watch the highlights of the Osasuna vs FC Barcelona here