Barcelona have hammered Osasuna on Matchday 11 of La Liga Santander with a scoreline of 4-0. The top of three of Barcelona; Messi, Braithwaite, Griezmann, along with Coutinho got themselves on the scoresheet. The Catalans have now made it to the 7th position in the points table following their fourth victory of the season.
Barcelona dominated the fixture from the first whistle to the last despite fielding a relatively inexperienced side with players like Oscar and Pedri in the playing eleven. However, the gamble paid off for Koeman, and there will be no complaints from the Camp Nou faithful.
The first two goals were scored by Braithwaite and Griezmann in the first half. Post the commencement of the second half, Barcelona were quick to cushion their two-goal advantage with a third goal from a Coutinho shot that put the game far beyond Osasuna’s reach. Messi’s goal was cherry on the icing as the Argentine was able to pay tribute to another Argentine, Maradona, who passed away recently. Here’s how Barcelona rated from their victory at the Camp Nou.
GK: Marc Andre Ter Stegen – 8/10
The German was right on top of his game and kept the Osasuna attack at bay at all times. The crossbar came to Stegen’s rescue on one occasion. Koeman will be delighted with his side’s clean sheet at home.
RB: Sergino Dest – 7/10
The American international had a fine evening in the Catalan capital of Barcelona. Dest seems to be growing into his role in this Barcelona side under the tutelage of Ronald Koeman.
CB: Oscar Mingueza – 7/10
The young centre back has done a satisfactory job deputising for the injured Gerard Pique. Oscar is a part of the Barcelona B team and seems to be making the most out of the time he’s getting to play alongside Lionel Messi & Co.
CB: Clement Lenglet – 8/10
The Frenchman acted as the leader of the back-line in Gerard Pique’s absence, and Barcelona truly deserved the clean sheet.
LB: Jordi Alba – 8/10
Jordi was industrious down the left-hand side and played a crucial part in attack as well. Barcelona created a massive chunk of the goals and assists tonight from the left-hand side, and Alba was right in the mix of things.
CM: Pedri – 7/10
The youngster is a joy to watch, and Barcelona fans will be impressed with the calmness and composure Pedri displays while playing alongside the likes of Messi, Griezmann, Coutinho, to name a few.
CM: Frenkie De Jong – 8/10
Frenkie was precise and neat in midfield as he kept the game ticking for Barcelona. Not once during the fixture did it feel like the Catalans had run out of ideas and this man was the reason behind it. The Dutchman carries about an aura around himself which has caught the attention of several Camp Nou faithful lately.
CM: Philippe Coutinho – 8/10
The Brazilian scored Barcelona’s third goal of the night after some fine link-up play with Antoine Griezmann. Coutinho put the ball past the goalie from close range. The Brazilian made way for Ousmane Dembele in the second half.
RW: Lionel Messi – 8/10
The Argentine scored a sumptuous goal from outside the box, and there could not have been a better goal than this to pay tribute to the iconic Diego Maradona who passed away recently. Messi was quick to remove his jersey and underneath he sported a jersey from his boyhood days. Messi had a pleasant game overall.
ST: Martin Braithwaite – 8/10
The striker was clinical in front of goal and pounced onto an unfortunate rebound off the Osasuna goalie, Herrera. Trincao came on around the hour mark to replace Braithwaite.
LW: Antoine Griezmann – 9/10
Easily the best performer on the pitch for Barcelona. Apart from scoring a sensational goal in the first half, Griezmann also set up Barcelona’s third goal. Certainly a performance of Griezmann’s standards against Osasuna at the Camp Nou stadium.
Substitutes
ST – Trincao – 7/10
The Portuguese striker got a good run of thirty minutes in the fixture. The striker still needs to improve on his positioning in the final third.
CB – Carles Alena – 7/10
The Spaniard did a decent job replacing Lenglet for the final thirty minutes of the game.
LW – Ousmane Dembele – 7/10
The Frenchman showed bursts of pace down the left-hand side. The player needs to put in more determined performances like this to start in the line-up ahead of Coutinuo and Griezmann.
CM – Sergio Busquets – 7/10
The midfielder was pivotal in midfield post replacing Pedri. Barcelona certainly missed Busquets calmness in the centre of the park.
RB – Firpo – 7/10
Firpo was instructed to play on the other side of the defence. The defender put in a satisfactory shift.
