BARCELONA 4 – OSASUNA 0 | Vitamins before the key week

Barcelona recovered sensations, optimism, fang and confidence when it needed it most thrashing Osasuna 4-0 in a game that the Catalans settled on the fast track and that allowed Xavi to give rest to some of his key pieces and minutes to players who barely had a leading role.

With this victory, the fourth in a row in LaLiga, Barcelona keeps the pulse of its competitors to conquer the Champions zone, which is very expensive. Barça started the match in fifth place and finished third, five points behind Sevilla with one game less than Lopetegui’s men, who were the only team in the upper zone who stumbled. The Barcelona fans already depend on themselves to win second place.

The phrase has different fathers, but it gained notoriety when Gonzalo Higuaín in an interview in 2010 assured that Ruud van Niistelrooy told him one day not to worry about the goalscoring drought he was suffering at the time, that thisThe goals were like “the bottle of ketchup, which sometimes does not come out, but when it flows, it falls suddenly”. And that’s what happened to Barça -and to Ferran Torres specifically- in a solid first half against Osasuna after coming down with the flu on Thursday against Galatasaray.

With six changes in the starting lineup compared to the Europa League match, Barcelona subdued the Navarrese from the start to recover positive feelings Before a key week that began against Osasuna, it will continue with the final in Istanbul and I will have its climax next Sunday at the Bernabéu.

The duel turned face from the start and was seen for sentencing in the quarter of an hour that went from minute 15 to 30. Ferran opened the scoring with a penalty, the Valencian scored the second taking advantage of the unstitching that Dembélé was making behind Osasuna. The Frenchman was once again a starter at the Camp Nou three months after his last appearance in the starting eleven and got on perfectly with Alves and Pedri. He gave Ferran the second and Aubameyang the third. Ousmane has now seven goal assists, five of them in four games.

With the 3-0 in favor, Barcelona could afford to think about what is to come and begin to manage efforts.

The one who had to change the set was Osasuna, who went into the break with two fouls committed (one a penalty). Arrasate ushered in Aridane, Unai and Roberto Torres changing the tactical drawing and giving a more aggressive image, but insufficient to jeopardize a game in which Dembélé was still the most dangerous.

As the situation seemed under control, Xavi rested Piqué despite the fact that Eric lived one card away from suspension ahead of the Clásico and then withdrew Auba and Pedri, who was replaced by Riqui, who took five minutes to score the fourth goal after picking up a rebound from Herrera after a shot from the youth squad himself, who had as much faith as a pause to finish the play.

With the wind in their favor, Braithwaite and Mingueza entered the field, unprecedented for weeks, while the game continued to be governed by the wisdom of Busquets, the rhythm of Gavi and the spark of Dembélé.

Osasuna, without any option, was left at the mercy of a Barcelona team that dispelled any doubts that could have been created last Thursday against Galatasaray. The Blaugrana team started their big week giving a feeling of sufficiency that recharges the batteries of key players like Dembélé and Ferran Torres. Now we need to dose the ketchup and make it fall regularly.