Before the away match against Osasuna, coach Hansi Flick made some notable revelations about the personnel on the field. The German coach said that due to the tight schedule in the coming weeks, key players such as Lamine Yamal and Raphinha will be on the bench to rest.
In fact, Flick has been rotating his players for the past few weeks, not just in the away match against Osasuna. Pau Viktor (21 years old), Gerard Martin (22), Sergi Dominguez (19) and Pablo Torre (21) are the young stars who have been put on the field from the start. Barca's central defenders are very young with a combined age of only 36. Playing alongside Dominguez is Pau Cubarsi, who is only 17 years old but has become a mainstay in the last 2 years.
With such personnel arrangements, Flick was judged to have been too risky when traveling to El Sadar. At home since the beginning of the season, Osasuna has played very well, earning 10/12 maximum points. With the momentum of excitement, the opponent also sent too many young players onto the field, Osasuna played an aggressive attacking strategy and scored 2 goals after only 28 minutes.
From the moment Ante Budimir scored the opening goal in the 18th minute, Hansi Flick sensed something was wrong. Then, before he could equalize, Blaugrana received another punch from the sky that made all of Flick's plans go awry.
This is the time when Barca needs to rotate to play in 4 arenas but the force in Flick's hands does not have that much depth. Of the 4 people who can wear the captain's armband, 3 stars have to sit out due to injury: Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong. The remaining person is vice-captain Raphinha, forced to sit on the bench because he had previously played 7 consecutive matches since the beginning of the season.
When letting Pau Viktor start, perhaps Flick did not anticipate that his young student would be exhausted. Indeed, in every collision with Osasuna's Lucas Torro, Viktor was at a disadvantage and almost did not create a breakthrough on the left wing.
When Osasuna made it 2-0 in the 28th minute, Barca players protested against the referee because they thought Viktor had been fouled by Torro. Although the home team's goal was controversial, it was consistent with the events on the pitch. At that time, Osasuna had launched 5 shots while Barca had only 0.
Realizing that things were not going well, Flick started to gradually withdraw the physically exhausted elements from the field such as Robert Lewandowski. However, as soon as Lewy was out, Barca conceded a goal from the penalty spot by Ante Budimir. It came from a mistake by Dominguez. Once again, the inexperience of the young elements made Barca pay the price.
Before narrowing the score to 2-4, Barca were very tired. In the first 7 matches of the season in La Liga, the "Catalunya Giant" only conceded 5 goals, but in the match at El Sadar, they had to pick the ball out of the net 4 times.
"We accept this defeat because there were too many things we did not do well, and even made more mistakes. The responsibility for this defeat lies with me.
As a coach, I have to protect my players, especially those who have had to work hard for many minutes before. After the match, I encouraged the players to keep trying because everything is still going in the right direction" - Flick shared.
Although the defeat against Osasuna was somewhat humiliating, it cannot be denied that Flick is doing very well in his first season leading the Camp Nou team. Before this defeat in round 8, the Catalan army had won 7 matches in a row since the beginning of the season and stood firmly at the top of the table. If Real beat Atletico in the Madrid Derby of round 8, Los Blancos would still be ranked below their arch-rivals with 1 point less.
However, this failure is also a wake-up call for Flick to adjust his personnel rotation. Although he knows that the pillars need to rest to compete in the long run, using too many young players at the same time will make Barca unstable.
In a race that is fraught with danger alongside arch-rivals Real Madrid, another stumble could see Blaugrana's early-season honeymoon phase quickly fade into the past.
