La Liga 2019/20: Barcelona vs. Osasuna – tactical analysis

Following a one-goal away win at Valladolid, Barcelona invited Osasuna to Camp Nou aiming to do everything they could to keep their title hopes alive. While the Blaugrana still needed to be reliant on table-toppers Real Madrid to have any shot at the title, opponents Osasuna also came into this fixture following a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo.

However, the visitors shattered Barcelonas faint chances of defending their title with a 1-2 win yet again, despite being restricted to ten men. In this tactical analysis, well be looking at the teams line-ups, how Barcelona build-up worked, how Osasuna were able to contain Barcelona and hit back on their weaknesses. Similarly, well look at how Osasunas tactics were effective and how Barcelonas attacking ineffectiveness haunted them yet again.

Line-ups

The home side lined up in a traditional 4-3-3, with Junior Firpo replacing Jordi Alba in the left-back position. Similarly, the likes of Ansu Fati and Martin Braithwaite started alongside Lionel Messi, replacing injured Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suárez to complete the front three. Ivan Rakitić started in place of Sergio Busquets, completing the midfield trio with Riqui Puig and Sergi Roberto. 

Osasuna started with a 5-3-2 formation. Sergio Herrera was placed in front of the sticks for Jagoba Arrasates side, shielded by a back-five of Nacho Vidal, Aridane Hernández, Raúl Navas, David Garcia and Pervis Estupiñán. Darko Brašanac and Jon Moncayola teamed up with Iñigo Pérez to complete the midfield that supported the front two of José Arnaiz and Adrián López.

Barcelonas build-up 

Sticking to their classic build-up from the back scheme, the Blaugrana looked to progress creating a channel of passing networks. The keeper and central defenders were heavily involved in the process, along with the sole defensive midfielder Rakitić, who dropped deep to support the build-up. Contrary to the 3-5-2 build-up formation that they used against Valladolid, Barcelona used a 2-3-2-3 space while they were advancing the play. Due to Osasunas shape, Barcelona were able to comfortably exchange passes between the centre-backs and full-backs alongside the deep-lying midfielder.