Frank Rijkaard has named the eighteen players he has available for tomorrow’s match with Osasuna, with the exception of Sylvinho who has been left out. With international matches in midweek it is unlikely that Rijkaard will rest anyone, so Barça should start with the best eleven available. Rijkaard will have to reorganize the defence due to Carles Puyol’s thigh injury.
Osasuna will be without the injured Corrales and Nekouman, while Josetxo and Portuguese striker Dady are both suspended after last weekend’s controversial 2-1 defeat at Sevilla. Dady will probably be replaced by 21-year-old Kike Sola who scored his first league goal in the Sevilla game. Barça will also need to watch out for the talented 18-year-old Mexican, Carlos Vela. Coach Cuco Ziganda, who is also suspended, has named a 19-man squad including midfielder Martin Astudillo who this week signed on loan from Alaves. Osasuna have lost four of their last five games, and haven’t won an away game since a 1-2 win at Deportivo at the start of December. However, they were unlucky to lose at Sevilla to a controversial last minute penalty. They are currently 15th in the table on 23 points.
Frank Rijkaard will have to decide between Rafa Marquez and Lilian Thuram to partner Milito in central defence. If Marquez is chosen it could mean a return to the team for Edmilson in midfield. To me it makes more sense for Marquez to partner Milito because when Toure returns that will be the partnership for the important games at the end of the month. Xavi could also return to midfield in place of Deco, while the front three should remain the same as for the Villarreal cup game which will mean Ronaldinho starts again on the bench. Barça should not have too many problems to win the game and will be hoping to improve on their recent goalscoring record. Since Samuel Eto’o left to play in the African Cup Barça have only found the net three times in five games.
Earlier in the season the sides drew 0-0 in Pamplona, while Barça won the corresponding fixture last season 3-0 with two goals from Eto’o and one from Leo Messi.
Barça’s squad: Valdés, Pinto, Zambrotta, Oleguer, Thuram, Milito, Abidal, Marquez, Edmilson, Xavi, Deco, Gudjohnsen, Iniesta, Messi, Giovani, Bojan, Henry, Ronaldinho.
Possible starting XI: Valdés, Zambrotta, Marquez, Milito, Abidal; Xavi, Edmilson, Iniesta; Messi, Bojan, Henry.
My prediction: Barça 3 Osasuna 0
11 responses so far ↓
FCB - Canada // Feb 2, 2008 at 22:50
4-0 Barca! They will be pumped up especially after the Real Madrid loss. At least they better be!
blaugranafan // Feb 2, 2008 at 23:02
Ohhhhhhhhh, thank you, Almeria! A glimmer of hope!
Blaugrana // Feb 2, 2008 at 23:26
The god’s have smiled upon us a chance to cut the gap. 1-0 to barça although not filing good about it
Nic // Feb 3, 2008 at 0:51
Rafael // Feb 3, 2008 at 6:14
Yay! :D:D
Blaugrana can cut it down to 6pts by beating Osasuna tomorrow. Big game tomorrow for Barca!
Vamosss Barca!
Siim // Feb 3, 2008 at 10:56
Barca 2 - 0 Osasuna
Thank you, Almeria!
jan // Feb 3, 2008 at 14:43
“It just goes to show they are human and can slip up against any team. ” I think this is more true then you maybe were thinking typing the phrase, Nic. If you saw how they for example struggled against Levante a few weeks ago (away! remember our easy win there) and in many, many other matches this season, this Madrid really can lose points almost everywhere. They’ve played a lot of games like the one from last night but because they won them int he end (often with the help of Casillas, and sometimes the referee), there never was criticism about the way they’re playing, but honestly (and I really think that I am, even being a barça fan, quite objective on this one): this Madrid isn’t a great team and it’s a miracle they have so many points.
Said this, I still think we should keep on focussing on the Copa and the CL and relax about the Liga, just play our games and see what happens. Cause even winning against Osasuna, we have two difficult away games (Sevilla and Zaragoza) coming up, so we could be back to more than six points quite soon. Maybe already tonight…
Nick // Feb 3, 2008 at 17:59
I think 3-0, Messi with two and 1 from a defender.
R.Marsh // Feb 3, 2008 at 19:25
The match is currently underway now and i predict a barca victory.Im not sure by how much but i know they will pull it off.I remember stating last week that even real madrid is prone to losing and see they have
Dr.Osmo // Feb 3, 2008 at 21:22
Barça 1 Osasuna 0
89′ Xavi…
Nic // Feb 3, 2008 at 22:28
Congratulations to Blaugrana who saw we would suffer today. He now joins e10 on two correct predictions. Can anyone catch them?
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