Barcelona look to rebound at home against Osasuna

Barcelona cannot afford to be complacent against Osasuna

Following Thursday’s disappointing draw against Galatasaray in the Europa League, Barcelona look to quickly turn the page as they face Osasuna at the Camp Nou.

Featuring a somewhat rotated side midweek, expect Xavi Hernandez to field his strongest team as the Catalans need to keep pace in LaLiga in their search to finish in Champions League places.

The club released the official squad list with Gavi making his return after serving a one-game suspension in Europe. Dani Alves also makes his return and is likely to start.

Xavi knows they cannot take any opponent for granted and echoed that sentiment during his pregame press conference and used Real Madrid’s comeback against PSG as an example.

"“Madrid turned the score around with faith and desire, they won the tie and the Champions [League] is like that. If you are not at one hundred percent, the opponent can overwhelm you. Against Osasuna, I say the same thing. Any opponent can beat you and that’s what happened.”Source: Sport"

Xavi went on to say that he wants to see a Barcelona team with more intensity from the beginning as the longer it takes to score a goal, the more difficult it gets.

In addition to Alves, others who were on the bench against Galatasaray should make their return to the starting lineup. Those include Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets.

Something to watch will be who accompanies Pique in defense. Ronald Araujo is one card away from suspension, meaning if he starts and picks one up versus Osasuna, he will miss the match against Real Madrid. Therefore, Xavi could decide to rest him and opt for either Eric Garcia or Clement Lenglet.

History favors Barcelona in this matchup. They’ve won 11 out of the last 13 matches at the Camp Nou. However, Osasuna have not lost in three out of their past five games against the Blaugrana.

While they may sit 11th in the table, Osasuna are coming off a 1-0 win over Villarreal. They’re likely to deploy similar tactics as Galatasaray where they will sit back and try to catch Barcelona on the counter.

As Xavi said, Barcelona need to come out focused from the opening whistle and try to get a goal early. The longer it takes, the more nervous Barcelona may get and, at the same time, the more belief Osasuna may get that they can get a positive result.

A win for Barcelona would see them climb over Atletico Madrid for third place. It would also mean a boost ahead of the return leg against Galatasaray in Turkey.