Barça repeats at the Camp Nou with the clear objective of getting even closer to the league title. The good feelings of last Sunday against Betis and the full recovery of all the important footballers, have to be an extra for Barça to overcome an Osasuna that will arrive with the final of the Copa del Rey against Real Madrid next Saturday in La Cartuja on the horizon. Here my 5 tactical keys for this match:
After Xavi recovered two basic players for his idea like Andreas Christensen and Ousmane Dembelé, it will be interesting to see with which eleven he faces this afternoon's match. In the first place, due to the structure, since today it is a game in which it is possible to give entry to one more winger. Even so, it is most likely that, given a weekend without competition in the League, Xavi will again bet on the base team that he has used mostly throughout the season with the sole exception of Dembelé. And it is that the prolonged absence of him and the good moment of Raphinha, give priority to the Brazilian.
One of the points that could mark this afternoon's match is Osasuna's rapid resignation and he begins to think about the Cup final that he will play next Saturday. And that will happen if Barça prints a high game rhythm from the initial whistle. If the Catalans manage to create a context of high wear and tear through the ball and force the Navarrese team to go the distance for defensive aid, the cupbearer factor will begin to appear. And with it, a more favorable game for the Catalans.
Osasuna is one of the teams that presses the best and plays the highest in this League (30% of the playing time in the rival field). That will not be so at the Camp Nou but it will leave certain spaces behind the defence. An aspect that Barça will have to take advantage of to go for the vertical clearances from behind. Especially with the interiors. Need to insist on it
Continuing with the aspect of having spaces behind your defence, another maneuver that can be very useful is the direct and deep passes from the winger to the winger. An action that the team had forgotten in recent weeks and that it recovered on Betis day. Today there will be spaces that enter these links.
Osasuna arrives with sensitive casualties (Abde, Davi García or Moncayola). Still, it has interesting footballers. Moi Gómez is a fixture for Jagoba Arrasate and a piece to keep in mind. The former Villareal player has an ideal type of game for what the coach is looking for since he is a footballer with great quality as a center and a very good shot. With an average of 1.2 and 1.7 respectively per game, he is the one who centers the most and gives the most key passes for Osasuna. A lot of attention also to Chimy Avila, who already played twenty minutes against Real and could start this afternoon. A fast, super dynamic and very incisive striker who is in a great scoring moment. He accumulates seven goals in the League. He has a magnificent first-round shot. He cannot be alone for even a second in the vicinity of the area. And finally, mention Ante Budimir. A non-fixed forward but who always tends to have a presence at some point in the match. He has an excellent passing game. He scored two goals in Osasuna's victory against Betis. And, although it is true that David García (the best player in the League from above) is not there, strategy is always a weapon for the Navarrese.
