Barcelona hosted Osasuna on Saturday night at the Spotify Camp Nou in a game that was far closer than the team would have hoped for.The visitors deployed a low block with five defenders and two defens...
Barcelona hosted Osasuna on Saturday night at the Spotify Camp Nou in a game that was far closer than the team would have hoped for.
The visitors deployed a low block with five defenders and two defensive midfielders, making it horrendously difficult for Barcelona to create attacking chances.
The first half went goalless after a Barcelona goal was ruled out for a queer offside. Even the second half looked set to follow the same script, until Raphinha stepped up and scored a stunning goal into the bottom corner to put his side up and hand them all three points.
Barça Universal brings you the player ratings from Barcelona 2-0 Osasuna.
Joan Garcia: 8
The goalkeeper was forced to make two rather straightforward saves in the first half and did not struggle with them in any capacity. Went on to make one other massive save to deny Osasuna on a move that was eventually called offside.
Alejandro Balde: 7.5
A solid performance from Balde. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
The left-back played a primarily attacking role in possession and looked to overlap with Rashford to create numbers in the final third.
Defensively, however, he was forced to track back with pace to keep up with Victor Munoz and did a decent job.
Gerard Martin: 8
The new mainstay in central defence kept up his level, both in terms of defensive contributions and his distribution.
Martin did not hesitate in going for the long ball forward and was almost always accurate on them, all while keeping his composure at the back.
Pau Cubarsi: 7.5
Cubarsi did a decent job in walling off Ante Budimir, although there were some occasions in the first half where Joan Garcia was again left to fend for himself.
His distribution was decent despite a few errors with his long-balls, and his performance was overall better than the dip he has shown in recent weeks.
Jules Kounde: 8
Kounde had a field day against Osasuna and was barely visible in a defensive sense. Instead, the Frenchman pushed forward in attack and even made runs into the box, attempting to overlap with Yamal’s wide threat.
Came close to scoring and got into good positions on a couple of occasions but none yielded any fruit.
Eric Garcia: 8
The Spaniard continued to bench Frenkie de Jong in Hansi Flick’s plans and once again featured as a defensive midfielder for the Catalans. He did well with his distribution and teed up well with Pedri to orchestrate the team’s buildup.
Pedri: 9
Pedri again dished out a simple and flawless performance that cannot be criticised much. He was effortless on the ball, worked hard out of possession and was one of Barcelona’s first lines of defence.
The Canary Islander constantly probed the Osasuna defence looking for holes to exploit and did not hesitate to pull the trigger in front of goal either.
Provided a lovely assist for Raphinha’s eventual opener.
Raphinha: 9
The captain with the winner. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
The captain played as the number 10 in Flick’s novel setup but did not look like a potent threat and was nowhere close to what he usually does on the wing.
While his central position did indeed help bring Rashford’s lethality to the field, Raphinha’s runs and counter-attacking threat were partially missing because of the altered dynamic.
Came up clutch with a stunning strike at the 70-minute mark to give Barcelona the lead and put them in the driver’s seat. Scored a tap-in for the second and patched up an otherwise poor display with two goals.
Lamine Yamal: 8.5
Yamal was decent, but not at his best. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)
Yamal started as Barcelona’s right-winger on the night and teed up well with both Raphinha and Kounde to break through the defence on occasion. He could well have finished with a couple of assists to his name in the first half.
Yamal came painfully close to scoring after a stunning dribble late in the half and looked inspiring as always.
Ferran Torres: 7.5
The Spaniard was well-walled off by the Osasuna defence for the better part of the game, but that did not stop him from threatening the goal with his cheeky finishes.
Scored a great header into the top corner to seemingly give Barcelona the lead, only to have it scraped off for an offside on the short corner. Attempted another audacious bicycle kick that went barely wide of the post.
Marcus Rashford: 7.5
The Englishman did well on Barcelona’s left flank and combined with Balde regularly to set the full-back into space. He attempted his trademark crosses to no avail and was once again decent with the corner deliveries.
Should have had a penalty called for a foul on him early in the game, but somehow the incident never even reached a review stage.
Category: General Sports
