Barcelona defeated Osasuna 2-0 in a fiercely contested semi-final on Thursday at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to advance to the 2024 Spanish Super Cup Final. Osasuna, who always knows how to cause Barça issues, gave the Blaugrana a tough battle, but the Catalans managed to score two goals in the second half to secure the victory and set up El Clásico for the title on Sunday.
FIRST HALF
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In the first ten minutes of the match, Barça looked powerful and had two good opportunities to take the lead: Andreas Christensen forced a great save out of Sergio Herrera, then Ferran Torres narrowly missed the mark with a shot from outside the box. Barça’s early aggressive pressing caused a lot of issues as it frequently put Osasuna’s defenders in awkward situations.
However, over time, the Pamplona team started to retreat farther and farther back, settling into a 5-3-2 configuration that was intended to block gaps in the last third and deny the Blaugrana easy passing lanes when attacking. After their strategy was successful, Barça stopped posing a threat and mainly passed laterally, scarcely troubling the Osasuna defense. After Ilkay Gündogan won a corner, Robert Lewandowski missed a wide-open header, but that was Barça’s last decent opportunity in the final thirty minutes of play.
Raphinha’s Injury
Raphinha’s hamstring injury forced him to leave the game just before halftime, costing the Catalans another player. However, Yamal’s replacement, Lamine Yamal, came close to opening goal-making territory with a lovely pass into the box that put Lewandowski in prime position to score, but Herrera made another excellent save to preserve the lead.
THE SECOND HALF
More of the same was seen in the opening minutes of the second half as Barça controlled the ball but failed to find openings within a strong Osasuna defense due to their poor passing and movement. However, the breakthrough occurred exactly one hour later. Gündogan produced a brilliant through ball to find Lewandowski inside the box, and the Pole scored into the bottom corner to put the Catalans ahead.
João Félix and Pedri came on right after the goal,, looking to give the Barça attack more creativity and spark, and Félix nearly doubled the lead with one of his first few touches and a shot that required a brilliant save from Herrera. But that was the only moment of danger from the Blaugrana, and Osasuna began opening up in search of an equalizer as we reached the final 15 minutes.
Osasuna managed to reach the last five minutes without conceding a second, so they threw the kitchen’s sink at Barça, looking for the equalizer. They made attacking substitutions and sent cross after cross into the box looking to create a chance, and they pressed Barça high, trying to get the ball back and continue attacking.
Osasuna couldn’t create a real chance and left spaces in behind to be exploited, and Barça did it to perfection to seal the win: João Félix went on a sensational solo run through the left side and found Lamine Yamal all alone inside the box, and the youngster finished the counter-attack with an excellent finish to double the Blaugrana lead and book a spot in the title match.
The final whistle came shortly after to confirm Barça’s victory, and now they’ll face their biggest rivals for the Supercopa title for the second year in a row. What a game that should be!
