Barcelona will travel to Pamplona this Tuesday to face Osasuna in the 14th round of the 2022/23 La Liga season.
Venue: Estadio El Sadar (Pamplona)
Key Statistics
Osasuna have won five league games at home this season (L2).
The hosts are yet to concede a match opener within the first 15 minutes of this league campaign.
They have kept two clean sheets in their last two home league games.
Barcelona have won their last four league games without conceding a goal.
They have conceded only four goals in the league this season.
The visitors have kept eleven clean sheets in La Liga this season.
Head to head
Barcelona have six wins in the last ten games against Osasuna (D3, L1).
Latest performances in all competitions
Osasuna: W-W-D-W-L
Barcelona: W-W-W-L-W
Osasuna
Osasuna will look to continue their impressive run in the league when they welcome their nemesis and La Liga giants Barcelona to Pamplona.
The hosts continued their decent start to the campaign with a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo on Saturday, marking their best 13-game start since 2005/06, a season they finished fourth.
The result which was secured thanks to a brace by Chimy Avila extended Osasuna’s unbeaten run in the league to four games (W3, D1) and put them just one point behind the top four teams.
Boss Jagoba Arrasate will be hopeful that his side can keep that run going, even though he stated that Barcelona will be a tough match. However, the motivation for the hosts will be that a win in this game could see them spend the World Cup break in the Champions League spots.
However, Barça have been a bogey team for Osasuna, dishing out some of their worst defeats, as well as remaining unbeaten at El Sadar since February 2012 (W3, D3). Yet Osasuna are no pushovers at home this season, having won five league games here (L2). But this is their first such game against a current top-eight opponent and will test their top-four credentials.
Possible Osasuna starting line-up
Aitor; Ruben Pena, Unai Garcia, David Garcia, Juan Cruz; Lucas Torro, Jon Moncayola; Ezequiel Avila, Aimar Oroz, Moi Gomez, Ante Budimir.
Possible Osasuna line-up
Injured: Abde Ezzalzouli
Doubtful: Kike Saveiro
Suspended: None
Barcelona
Barca made light work of Almeria last time in what was Gerard Pique’s last game in football, beating the La Liga newcomers 2-0 at Camp Nou thanks to goals from Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong.
The win, which was their fourth consecutive league win, took them to the top of the table, albeit temporarily as Real Madrid are not in action until Monday night.
The result also continued what has been a theme in Barcelona this season where the visitors are showing strong defensive form. In 13 league games this season, the Catalan side have conceded a whopping eleven clean sheets, with Real Madrid the only side to score more than once against them in La Liga.
And such form means that Barça have now equalled the lowest-ever goals conceded tally (four) at this stage of a top-flight campaign. However, those conceded goals have all come on the road, with their only loss this season coming at Santiago Bernabeu.
With pressure starting to build as the title race heats up, manager Xavi Hernández may demand a faster start against Osasuna, as seven of Barcelona’s last eight away league goals have arrived in the second half, with four struck after the 80th minute.
Possible Barcelona starting line-up
Marc Andre ter Stegen; Hector Bellerin, Andreas Christensen, Eric Garcia,
Alex Balde; Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets, Pedri; Raphinha, Ousmane Dembele, Robert Lewandowski.
Injured: Ronald Araujo, Sergi Roberto, Franck Kessie
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Prediction
Osasuna 0-1 Barcelona
