Spain isn't the only problem: Barça-Osasuna hot tips

BarcelonaBarça's convincing victory in La Liga against Osasuna. Ferran Torres, Dani Olmo, and Lewandowski settled the matter early in the match. rush The end of a season that promises joy for Barcelona. Here are some quick notes.

There was an alternative. Spain is the only country with a major football league that is bringing back postponed matches with players recently arrived from overseas destinations. Despite complaints from the contenders, Barça-Osasuna was played without key players like Raphinha and Araujo, who have yet to train with Flick this week. Given the schedule, the Navarrese side also didn't risk starting Budimir and Boyomo, the team's best striker and best defender, respectively. Although there was an alternative to scheduling the match for late May, the authorities insisted on turning it into a trap. Thankfully, the ball went in Barça's favor. Three more points and that day will be a year.

At the crucial moment. Spain also explains the risk of injury to some key players in Barça. Those of thered Under-21 players arrived fresh for the match against Osasuna because they were exempted from playing against Germany. In contrast, the full internationals, like Lamine Yamal, had played a full extra time on Sunday against the Netherlands. The accumulated fatigue took its toll on Olmo, who after scoring the 2-0 penalty, asked to be substituted due to a muscle injury. Damned internationals, yes, because everything points to the Egarense native missing crucial weeks of the season. But we can't forget that there's a lot of work to be done with the physical fragility of Flick's favorite playmaker. In this case, blaming Spain can't be enough.

Quality minutes. From this relatively uneventful match, we can draw some insights that could continue into this final stretch of the season. For example, with Casadó unavailable due to injury, Gavi emerges as an emergency solution in central midfield when De Jong is out. This was demonstrated in the second half against Osasuna. Without Olmo, the Andalusian will also have quality minutes in the attacking midfield, Fermín's favorite position and equally fertile ground for Pablo Torre, who always leaves great highlights in his repertoire. The Cantabrian is a fun player to watch. His place may not be at Barça, but there's no doubt he has more than enough quality to play in the First Division for many years.

Two examples of reliability. In the penultimate competitive match of March, Lewandowski, who came on in the second half, scored his 95th goal for Barça. He reaches the milestone at almost 37 years of age and in less than three full seasons. Furthermore, the Polish specialist thus surpasses Ronaldinho in the all-time Barça goalscoring rankings. A standing ovation for him. Less striking, but no less remarkable, is Kounde's 97 consecutive matches between Barça and the French national team without a single injury or suspension. Mostly a starter, the former Sevilla player is a sure thing from November 2023. In the end, he turned out to be a full-back rather than a center-back. Not that he wanted to be.