La Liga: Barcelona Vs Osasuna – Match preview

The Nou Camp faithful will hope that midweek draw was an aberration, as Barcelona’s last three La Liga home games saw them score 3 goals.

Barcelona

After a goalless draw in the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 tie, Barcelona will have one eye on their upcoming trip to Turkey, although any slip-up here can potentially pull them out of La Liga’s top-four spots. The Nou Camp faithful will hope that midweek draw was an aberration, as Barcelona’s last three La Liga home games saw them score 3 goals. A visit by Osasuna should cheer up the home fans, as Barca have won seven of their last eight La Liga home H2Hs against the ‘Rojillos’, scoring an average of 4.5 goals per game during the process. That includes a September 2011 H2H where Barcelona inflicted Osasuna’s joint-heaviest La Liga defeat (0-8), but the last five La Liga H2Hs have been less straightforward.

Osasuna

Osasuna themselves are chasing only a second top-ten La Liga finish since 2011/12. Something of an historic accolade awaits them here, as after a goalless away draw against Real Madrid, they could take points from their two away games in a single La Liga season against the two Spanish giants for only the third time in their history. That’ll likely require Osasuna finding their scoring boots, but they’ve failed to get on the scoresheet in seven of their last nine La Liga away games. In any case, conceding first will likely drain the visitors of all hope, as ten of Osasuna’s previous 12 La Liga road trips have seen at least one team fail to score.

Barcelona’s Memphis Depay could be waiting for a late opportunity, as his last three La Liga goals have all come beyond the 80th minute. Kike Garcia will likely challenge him for top billing in any ‘late show’, having seen his last two La Liga strikes come on the road as Osasuna’s last scorer beyond the 80th minute. Barcelona have won both halves in six of their last seven La Liga home H2Hs.