FC Barcelona (1st, 57pts) vs CA Osasuna (11th, 33pts)
Competition/Round: 2024-25 La Liga, Matchday 27
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Marc-André ter Stegen, Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal (out)
Osasuna Outs & Doubts: Aimar Oroz, Aitor Fernández (doubt)
Date/Time: Saturday, March 8, 2025, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Sunday)
Venue: Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Montjuïc, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Mateo Busquets Ferrer
VAR: Javier Iglesias Villanueva
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), SuperSport (Nigeria), Premier Sports 2 (UK), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), LaLigaTV (UK), GXR World (India), DAZN (Spain), others
Following a crucial hard-fought win over Benfica in the first leg of their Champions League Round of 16 tie, Barcelona are right back in action with another La Liga game as the leaders host Osasuna at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Saturday Night Fútbol.
Barça come into this one on the back of a very impressive road win in Europe, playing with 10 men for the final 70 minutes and still finding a way to win with brilliant team spirit, very solid defending, a star performance by Wojciech Szczesny in goal and another crucial goal in Europe by Champions League Raphinha.
The Catalans are rolling, still unbeaten in 2025 and looking like a real contender for all three remaining competitions. But the games come thick and fast, and the pressure is on to not drop any points in the league as they try to advance in Europe and the Copa del Rey.
That’s why this weekend feels so important. Facing a mid-table side at home is the perfect opportunity for what American sports fans like to call a “trap game”, one where the favorites look ahead to bigger matches and somehow lose to teams that are considerably weaker than them.
Osasuna aren’t exactly considerably weaker than Barça, but the gap in talent is still obvious. However, this is a very solid La Liga team with distant dreams of an European spot this season that would love to sweep the Blaugrana in this campaign to boost their run to the finish line in the final 11 games.
The side from Pamplona beat the Catalans comfortably in their first meeting at El Sadar back in September in similar circumstances to this weekend’s game: Barça were looking ahead to a must-win Champions League match against Young Boys and Hansi Flick decided to make several changes to his squad, resting Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, Iñigo Martínez and Alejandro Balde while also missing Ronald Araujo, Gavi, Fermín López, Dani Olmo and Frenkie de Jong due to injury at the time.
Barça were simply unable to compete that day, and Osasuna used the size and power of striker Ante Budimir to dominate through the air and the pace of Bryan Zaragoza on the wings to create hell on the counter. The contest was essentially over before it began, and the Blaugrana played one of their worst games of the season.
The Catalans are once again expected to rotate their squad to face Osasuna, but the rotated team will be a lot stronger this time and Barça will be playing at home hungry for revenge. Osasuna could be missing their best and most creative player in attacking midfielder Aimar Oroz due to injury, which could lead to a change in formation that leaves the visitors unable to press as high or force as many mistakes as they did in the first matchup.
Barça have Benfica at home to decide their European fate and then Atlético Madrid on the road in a gigantic game with huge consequences for the title race next week, but they cannot look ahead to those until they get Osasuna out of the way. Osasuna deserve a ton of respect, and Barça must play serious, efficient and clinical football to get the job done.
Let’s dance.
POSSIBLE LINEUPS
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Szczesny; Kounde, Eric, Cubarsí, Martín; Casadó, De Jong; Yamal, Olmo, Fermín; Ferran
Osasuna (5-3-2): Herrera; Areso, Boyomo, Catena, Herrando, Bretones; Moncayola, Torró, Gómez; Budimir, Zaragoza
PREDICTION
I hate when Barça play Osasuna. Absolutely hate it. They just know how to play us and they’ll catch us rotating the squad in the middle of a monster run of games, but I’ll choose to trust the good guys to find a way: 2-1 Barça.