All Bar�a�s football

Match

Marcador del partit

Date: Saturday, 17 Sep
Competition: ???label.competicio0???
Stadium: Camp Nou, Barcelona

Resultat:

FC Barcelona: 8
Osasuna: 0

Match report

Match Report
Pre-Match

Match Report

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Goals

1-0 Messi (min 4)
2-0 Cesc (min 13)
3-0 Villa (min 33)
4-0 Roversio own goal (min 39)
5-0 Messi (min 41)
6-0 Xavi (min 56)
7-0 Villa (min 75)
8-0 Messi (min 79)

Super 8 (8-0)

Jordi Clos

An exquisite performance saw Bar�a put eight past Osasuna-five in the first half- at the Camp Nou tonight, with strikes from Messi (3), Villa (2), Cesc, Xavi and an own goal from Roversio.

Following their last two drawn games against Real Sociedad and AC Milan, Bar�a were again back to their imperious selves against Osasuna at the Camp Nou tonight. A fantastic first half which saw them playing at great pace, holding onto the ball and seemingly creating chances at will as they scored five goals to set up the win. They didn’t let up after the break either, scoring three more and leaving the scoreline to say it all : 8-0.

Surprises in the line up

Guardiola surprised Osasuna with a 3-4-3 formation, using Mascherano, Puyol (making a welcome return to the starting 11) and Abidal at the back behind a midfield diamond of Busquets, Xavi, Thiago and Cesc, with Villa, Messi and Alves (playing as a right winger) as the front three and it couldn’t have started better, as after just 4 minutes, Busquets found Alves out on the right with an inch perfect pass and the Brazilian crossed for Messi at the far post to open the scoring.

Bar�a just looked unstoppable and within the first quarter of an hour Cesc had doubled their lead with a lovely left footed volley after being put in by Messi.

5-0 at half time

Seemingly having learnt the lesson from recent games, the Bar�a players were playing a fast paced possession football with their opponents’ goal always their target and they enjoyed an astonishing 80% of possession in the first half. Cesc nearly made it three on 25 minutes, only for the Basque team’s keeper Fernandez to this time get the better of him and soon after Messi headed against the woodwork. There was little the keeper could do as Villa rounded him just past the half hour to get his first of the night though and the team showed their hunger for goals was still there with two in two minutes, as Roversio put through his own net after Villa’s shot had been blocked and then Cesc brilliantly set up Messi for a relatively simple tap in.

And three more!

It was clear from the start of the second half that more was to come and Messi hit the bar with a lovely chip, something Xavi managed to better with a lob over the keeper soon after to make it six. Guardiola now brought of Xavi, Puyol and Abidal, which momentarily at least seemed to give Osasuna a glimpse of at least getting close to Valdes.

However, Bar�a were soon back to scoring, with Cesc setting up Villa for his second on 75 minutes and soon after Messi claiming his hat trick with a trade mark individual effort to round off a pitiless display of attacking prowess that was just unstoppable, as the champions, led by the world’s best player, made it 13 goals in the team’s two Camp Nou league games so far this campaign.

Preview

The same style as always

Roger Boguny�

After two draws in a row, FC Barcelona entertain Osasuna tonight (20.00, Gol T, Canal + Liga and R@dio Bar�a) after Guardiola made his message clear. Whatever happens, Bar�a will stick to their usual style � attacking football.

Neither of the adverse results against Real Sociedad and AC Milan are reason for FCB to revise their methods. As always after any setbacks, Guardiola is sticking to his guns, and shunned suggestions from the media on Friday that there are any flaws in his plan. Ultimately it might be results that matter, but FC Barcelona have still played some wonderful football in their last two games, even though they both ended in draws. So, Bar�a won’t be changing their attacking style, and the manager is confident that sooner or later, they will be back to their winning ways.

Three key absentees

The first chance to do just that comes on Saturday evening at home to Osasuna, one of the teams that caused the greatest difficulties for the Catalans last season. Bar�a didn’t have the best of days, but managed to scrape a 2-0 win. The challenge today is to start converting the excellent football displayed of late into wins, but Bar�a will have to do that without three important players, Piqu�, Iniesta and Alexis, who are all injured.

Change of team

Guardiola has only 18 first team players to choose from, so he will have to have a rethink, and that could mean the first start for Carles Puyol for several months. The manager will also need to find a replacement for Iniesta in midfield, which means he might opt for the same group of players that impressed so much in the first half in San Sebastian. Iniesta started that match on the bench, but two other midfielders, Xavi and Cesc, scored FC Barcelona’s two goals.

Osasuna unbeaten

Like Bar�a, Osasuna have taken four points from their first two league outings, and also have injury problems to deal with. Goalkeeper Riesgo, plus Sergio, Echaide, Nekounam and Masoud are all unfit. The side from Pamplona started their campaign with a draw at the Vicente Calder�n (0-0) and then beat Sporting (2-1) last week.