Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
A roller coaster ride in Pamplona
Barcelona will enter the first international break of the new season without a win away from home in La Liga thanks to a 2-2 draw against Osasuna at El Sadar. The Blaugrana were repulsive in the first half, made an amazing comeback in the second but were undone by a dumb penalty from Gerard Piqué. Amid all the negativity, some good news: Ansu Fati scored his first goal for Barça, and the 16-year-old has certainly proved he deserves to be in the squad even when the injured forwards return. This kid is amazing.
FIRST HALF
Osasuna pressed high up the pitch for seven straight minutes and scored a beautiful goal thanks to a great cross by Brandon and a gorgeous volley by Roberto Torres.
Barcelona did absolutely nothing.
That was the first half.
SECOND HALF
Enter Ansu Fati.
The sixteen-year-old came on at halftime and completely changed the game within five minutes: his direct runs were a threat for the Osasuna backline from the first second, and his header from a Carles Pérez cross equalized and gave Barça a real shot at a winner with 40 minutes still to go.
Barça were full of youth, life and hunger after the goal, and the introduction of Arthur gave the team one more incisive passer who break the defense down. Barça also pressed more, and after De Jong stole a ball inside the Osasuna half it was Arthur who scored a beautiful curler into the corner to give Barça the lead and complete the comeback.
Osasuna did not lose hope despite going down 2-1 and made their own comeback bid, pressing high themselves and firing plenty of shots at goal that required Ter Stegen to make some good saves. And then Gerard Piqué was called for a handball in the box, which gave Roberto Torres the chance to equalize from the penalty spot and the score was tied with 10 minutes left.
Barça tried to go forward and find the winner, and they had a golden chance thanks to a masterful pass from Arthur to find Carles Pérez, but the young man couldn’t bring the ball under his spell and wasted the best opportunity of the game for Barça.
The final whistle came, and the champions now have four points from the first three games. That along with the horrible first half performance means we’ll have two full weeks of doubts and criticism during the international break. Yay.
Osasuna: Rubén; Vidal, Aridane, García, Estpuiñán; Torres, Mérida (Moncayola 71’), Oier, García (Ibáñez 65’); Brandon (Villar 78’), Ávila
Goals: Torres (7’, 81’)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo (Fati 45’), Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Roberto, Busquets, De Jong (Vidal 82’); Pérez, Griezmann, Rafinha (Arthur 53’)
Goals: Ansu Fati (51’), Arthur (64’)
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