Four days before the round of 16 second leg of the Europa League in Istanbul, Barça walks at home against Osasuna (3-0) and finds the La Liga podium.
In its historic den of Camp Nou, FC Barcelona received Osasuna as part of the 28th day of La Liga. An important meeting for the Catalans, not only to continue their good series in the Championship (11 matches without defeat) but also to gain confidence before the return match against Galatarasay in the Europa League after the goalless draw at home (0-0 ). For its part, the Pamplona club did not know the same success, especially outside – 4 defeats in its last 6 trips.
To stop this bad series, Jagoba Arrasate trusted the young Iker Benito in the absence of Ezequiel Ávila in attack alongside Kike Garcia. For his part, Xavi Hernandez preferred Ousmane Dembélé to Adama Traoré on the right of his attacking sector and established Gerard Piqué for his 600th match in the Blaugrana jersey. And from the start of the meeting, the French striker was very restless on his lane (10th) before the penalty obtained by Gavi then transformed by Ferran Torres (1-0, 14th). The Spaniard doubled the lead seven minutes later with a fine finish against Sergio Herrera (2-0, 21st).
Barça delights its public
Already a decisive passer on the second goal, Dembélé distilled a center deflected from the point by Aubameyang at the near post (3-0, 27th). As the 2018 world champion distributed his second offering of the game – 7 assists for him in the Championship. Barça largely dominated this meeting with their technical mastery and the application of a slick game from Xavi. However, on returning from the locker room, Javi Martinez thought he would surprise the locals but Marc-André ter Stegen was very vigilant on his ball (28th). For his special match in the history of the club, Piqué could score his third goal if he was not in an illegal position at the start of the action (55th).
After Dembélé’s powerful shot deflected by the opposing goalkeeper (70th), the incoming Riqui Puig sealed the fate of the match: after a low shot from the ground badly captured by Herrera, the Spanish midfielder continued the action and recovered the ball before pushing it into the small left net of the empty goal (4-0, 75th). A more than perfect evening for FC Barcelona (4-0) before the trip to Turkey next Thursday to validate their ticket for the quarter-finals of the C3. In addition, Xavi’s men return to the podium after this success and come back to within five points of Sevilla FC. Osasuna stalls once again outside its bases and blocks in 11th place in the standings.
