Barcelona have opened up a three-point lead at the top of the La Liga table in their return from the international break thanks to a hard-fought 3-0 win over Osasuna at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Thursday night. Barça built their lead thanks to a dominant first half and dealt with Osasuna’s pressure to seal the win in the second, and will head into a busy stretch over the next month with an important advantage over their main title rivals with 10 games to go.
FIRST HALF
From the very start of the game, Barça established their dominance and were comfortably the better team with their control of possession and the territory. The Blaugrana got into great positions early and often, and didn’t need to wait too long to find the net.
The opening goal came thanks to the brilliance of Frenkie de Jong, who opened up the Osasuna backline with first a backheel pass and then a perfect ball to find Alejandro Balde, whose cross was passed home by Ferran Torres inside the six-yard box.
Ten minutes later it was Pedri’s turn to make a brilliant pass from deep, finding Dani Olmo over the top before he was taken out by Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera inside the box. Olmo’s penalty was saved at first but VAR ordered the spot kick to be retaken due to a violation by Herrera who didn’t have either foot on the line as he made the save, and he couldn’t stop Olmo again as Dani found the net in his second attempt to double the Blaugrana lead.
The only piece of bad news for Barça in the first half came during the penalty sequence, as Olmo appeared to get injured while taking one of the spot kicks and had to be replaced midway through the period by Fermín López. The Catalans continued to dominate, however, and missed multiple big chances to add to their lead.
The halftime whistle came to end a very comfortable period for Barça, who were up two goals and in complete control. But there was still work to be done to finish the job, and they needed to remain serious and professional to secure the three points in the second half.
SECOND HALF
Hansi Flick made a change at halftime replacing Frenkie de Jong with Pablo Torre, most likely to save De Jong’s legs for the hectic upcoming schedule. But the substitution had a really negative impact on the team, as Barça struggled to keep control of the game and allowed it to become chaotic thanks to several errors in midfield.
Osasuna were encouraged by Barça’s poor play and began creating real danger on the counter, with the Blaugrana backline needing to make some crucial interventions to stop the visitors from finding a way back in the game early in the period. Flick sent on Robert Lewandowski trying to add a more physical presence up front, but the game still felt open as we reached the final 20 minutes.
The visitors started to open up more and more as they looked for a goal to ignite their comeback, but the space they left at the back was exploited perfectly with 15 minutes to go: Osasuna had their entire team in the attacking half for a throw-in but lost possession and Pablo Torre fired a perfect ball over the top to find Fermín, who had all the space to run and play a beautiful cross to Lewandowski, who headed it home to triple the lead and seal the victory for the home team.
The third goal allowed Flick to give extra minutes of rest to Balde and Pedri in the final 10 minutes, and Barça ran out the clock until the final whistle came to secure the three points and a clean sheet.
Barça did a great job of being professionals and playing well enough to win despite the strange circumstances surrounding this game, and expecting them to be at their very best with so little preparation time was never realistic to begin with. The first half was super impressive considering the expectations, and the second half was a little concerning but ultimately ended comfortably once the third goal went in.
Now the craziness of April begins, and Barça’s season will pretty much be decided by what happens in the next month. And this was a good way to start it all. Well done, boys!
Barcelona: Szczesny; Kounde, Eric, Iñigo, Balde (Martín 83’); De Jong (Torre 46’), Pedri (Víctor 83’); Yamal, Olmo (Fermín 28’), Gavi; Ferran (Lewandowski 68’)
Goals: Ferran (11’), Olmo (pen 21’), Lewandowski (77’)
Osasuna: Herrera; Areso (Peña 85’), Catena, Herrando, Cruz; Ibáñez, Muñoz (R. García 34’); Moncayola, Aimar (Gómez 61’), Arnaiz (Boyomo 46’); García (Budimir 61’)
Goals: None
