March 14, (THEWILL) – Barcelona cruised into La Liga’s top three with a game in hand over their rivals below, after a 4-0 thrashing of Osasuna on Sunday night on their home turf at Camp Nou.
As the Catalan side hit the ball around, pressing and probing for a breach in Osasuna’s compact 4-2-3-1, the game swiftly fell into a predictable routine.
Barcelona had completed more passes in the final third than their opponents had anywhere on the pitch by the time Nacho Vidal handed the hosts a penalty 14 minutes in.
Gavi scampered into the area on Sergio Busquets’ ball, wriggling goal-side of Vidal and coaxing the right-back into a foolish barge for a spot-kick converted by Ferran Torres to open the game up nicely for the hosts.
By relentlessly pressing their mid-table guests, Barcelona suffocated the openings that the visitors could manage and monopolised possession for themselves.
To set up Torres for a quick-fire second, Ousmane Dembele glided infield, slashing through the uncoordinated formation of Osasuna’s scrambling backline and Barca were two goals up by the 21st minute.
Within the first half-hour, the French World Cup winner set up Barcelona’s third goal, sending the ball towards the near post, where Aubameyang poked it in with his toe.
Xavi’s team was helped by a sluggish and hesitant Osasuna. The visitors not only stood aloof by Dembele as he delivered the cross, but also watched as a 38-year-old Dani Alves stumbled through a series of step-overs in the build-up to the goal.
Barcelona were so comfortable in possession that they purposefully formed rondos around the pitch, encircling a poor Osasuna player with a flurry of passes before moving on to the next unfortunate victim.
Riqui Puig, a second-half substitute, instilled a sense of urgency in a game that was dragging its feet when he came on. With 15 minutes remaining, Puig calmly circled Sergio Herrera after sprinting onto the parry of his own shot.
The male team of Barcelona enjoyed a portion of the imperious supremacy Barcelona Femeni have become accustomed to on the same day that the female team clinched another Spanish top division title in their customary perfect and resounding fashion of 24 wins out of 24 ties.
With three points, Xavi Hernandez’s side leapfrogged Atletico Madrid and Real Betis into third place. They will play Galatasaray in the second leg of their Europa League contest, which is currently tied at 0-0 after the first leg.
Osasuna’s defeat means they remain in 11th place, and they welcome relegation-threatened Levante to the Estadio El Sadar in their next match, where they will be trying to get back on track with a win.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
