Barcelona are perfect in La Liga no more after suffering a 4-2 loss to Osasuna on Saturday. After winning his first seven domestic matches in charge of the club, Hansi Flick had to turn one eye toward Champions League play starting without Lamine Yamal and Raphinha. Osasuna were able to get out to a 2-0 lead that Barcelona wouldn’t manage to overcome.
Despite the dropped points, Barcelona will still end the week atop La Liga since they have a four-point lead on Real Madrid but this is a match that shows how thin margins are. Due to finances and injuries, Barcelona’s squad is thinner than either of the major Madrid sides so ahead of facing Young Boys in the Champions League, they had no choice but to rotate heavily since that’s a critical match.
After losing their opening Champions League match to Monaco, Barcelona will need to pick up points quickly to ensure a top-eight spot and a bye to the round of 16. As long as Flick can navigate the schedule and do that, losing this match was worth it. Still working on signing Wojciech Szczesny after Marc-Andre ter Stegen went down with an injury, Barca will need him sooner rather than later.
Going all out attack, Barcelona can blow most teams off the pitch as shown by their 25 goals scored in eight matches but defensively they’ve allowed nine goals so far in league play. Relying heavily on young players like 17-year-old Yamal, rotation is needed to keep them fresh. Games like this will happen but the goal is to make sure that they don’t become a trend.
Barcelona bounced back from losing to Monaco and now they’ll have to do the same thing against Young Boys. Next up is an easier match against Alaves in La Liga before the October international break brings much-needed rest. Flick would prefer to not limp into that break with matches against Sevilla, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on the other side of it but rest will only be good for Barcelona. By the end of October, we’ll know if they’re well and truly back as contenders.