Barcelona vs. Osasuna : A walk in the park

As I began to arrange my couch and other inventory like chips and soda before the match began, one thing was going on my mind and that was the recent caustic remarks in the media about the smugness in the Barcelona dressing room especially after the two consecutive draws on their previous outings. The fantastic trio on C2K had a completely different opinion and had predicted a drubbing of Osasuna. It was only a matter of 5 minutes before the misgivings about FCB’s new season were extinguished with a lovely tap from Messi. The pour of goals did not stop there as the Blaugrana went about the their business of passing and plundering and during halftime the statistics were stacked hugely in favor of the champions. For even a person who has spent the last many years watching FCB destroy opponents, this exhibition was breathtaking with possession figures reaching 85%.

That was a piece of cake….

FCB entered the pitch with a strong side but left Iniesta and Pedro. Sanchez was injured during the last game and hence watched the game from the gallery but the legendary Puyol made it to the starting line-up. The defensive line looked a little shaky with Mascherano and Abidal taking centre positions and the Brazilian duo of Alves and Adriano taking right and left wing positions. Thankfully they were not put to the test with the ball refusing to leave the feet of the Barcelona men. The usual suspects of Xavi, Villa and Messi were just putting up a brilliant display, but the man to outshine most, if not all of them was the ex-gunner Fabregas.

His passing and aggressive runs off the ball were simply astonishing and deservedly he netted the second goal of the game. Cesc also made an unselfish assist inside the penalty box to give Villa his second goal of the match. Xavi got into the rooster of goals with a smart flick over the goalie to get the sixth goal on the scoring sheet. The assist as usual came from the golden boy Messi who had a brilliant game. Two precise assists and a hat-trick puts the genius back at the top the list of goal scorers in La Liga so far with 5 goals just ahead of the “rich, handsome and great” Ronaldo. The third goal from Messi was the most stupendous of them all where he showed his magic if only a wee bit of it.

The result clearly has sent a strong signal too all clubs in Europe and their arch rivals Real Madrid who will be playing Levante tonight, and it was thrilling and satisfying to see the top club back at their best but the disappointment of seeing all the other sides failing to even give a fight to the top notch sides lingers on.

Player Ratings

Barcelona		Osasuna
Victor Valdes	5	Andrez Fernandez	6
Dani Alves	6	Damia	4
Eric Abidal	6.5	Jukka Raitala	4
Carlos Puyol	6	Ruben	4
Javier Mascherano	6	Roversio	4
Xavi Hernandez	7.5	Manuel Ortiz	4
Sergio Busquets	6	Marc Bertran	4
Thiago Alcantara	6.5	Raul Garcia	4
Cesc Fabregas	8	Punal	4
David Villa	7.5	Lamah	4
Lionel Messi	8.5	Nino	4