Barça knew how to manage the complex match against Osasuna with solvency
Gaviwhich had to be dealt with by a strong blow from Rubén García, and Lewandowski, the most intense in El Sadar
It was never easy to conquer El Sadar: neither before the remodeling nor now, converted into a more modern but equally hot stadium. Playing in Pamplona is synonymous with intensity, vibrations in style and tight finishes.
It was no exception last night, when Xavi’s Barça took the three points, showing more caste, courage and epic than a particularly neat and brilliant game. There are matches in which it is convenient to park the purity of the style and get mud on your feet.
Xavi’s Barça has learned to do it. The team is accused of not being able to play round games, but it is not always possible to maintain virtuosity for 90 minutes. There are days to wear a tailcoat and days to put on work clothes. It is better to go to Pamplona dressed as a worker, rather than as a bourgeois.
How to read a game
And there were players who interpreted it perfectly. Like Robert Lewandowski, he was fierce in the melee against the Osasuna defenders, despite seeing a yellow card in the first half.
He knew how to manage the tension that he handled the game with solvency and professionalism (not in vain is he the oldest player on the squad); to the point that he signed the winning goal from the penalty spot, after causing the maximum penalty himself.
Gavi also knew how to read the game perfectly. pure character, The Andalusian goes to the clash by definition, without thinking about the consequences, providing character and personality that Barça needs like air. Gavi is not scared of anything: not even his own blood, which flowed abundantly from his right ear, after a blow from Rubén García at the start of the second half.
On the day that three signings made their debut at once (Joao Cancelo, Joao Félix and Iñigo Martínez) the Barça knew how to manage one of those games that sometimes, in other times of greater uncertainties, they used to get out of hand. Back and forth, tension and melee; thorny terrain from which Barça emerged victorious and strengthened.