At midnight this Friday (24-01-12 03:00), in the Spanish Super Cup, the giants Barcelona and Osasuna will have a fierce showdown.
Barcelona seems to have a dragon raising its head recently, with a record of 12 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses, temporarily ranking third in the league. However, the previous slump has opened a seven-point gap between it and Real Madrid at the top of the table, and Girona is close behind, which also puts a lot of pressure on Barcelona. If it weren't for key players such as Robert Lewandowski who quickly regained their scoring touch, or the team's stronger scoring ability in the following fixtures, the defending champions might have managed to squeeze into the top four this season.
Fans are hoping that Barcelona will regain the league title, but during the winter transfer window, the team has a difficult road to recruitment, and the squad reinforcement needs to rely on player exchanges to fill the funding gap. Aside from the high-profile midfielder Frenkie de Jong, it is unlikely that any player will be able to make a significant difference even if he intends to leave. In addition, although head coach Xavi has led the team to win the championship, his coaching experience has yet to be accumulated, and he won the championship last season thanks to Lewandowski's stable performance. At this moment, Barcelona has frequent injuries, Gavi is reimbursed for the season, Pedri, Martinez and others are also absent, Raphinha, Felix and Lewandowski on the front line are not well fit with the passing and control system, and Xavi may not be able to dominate in the tough battle if he sticks to the passing and control tactics.
On the other hand, Osasuna has been in a stable form recently, with six wins, four draws and nine losses ranking 12th in the league. The team's strength has been improving year by year, and they even qualified for the UEFA Europa League play-offs last season, but their financial resources are limited and they have not been able to bring in strong reinforcements, so their competitiveness has declined slightly this season. However, Osasuna, who are not under pressure to points, can go all out in the battle between the Spanish Super Cup and the Copa del Rey, after all, winning the cup will not only win the money for recruitment, but also hope to qualify for next season's Europa League through the Copa del Rey.
In the last five games, Osasuna has won two wins, two draws and one loss, and the results are good. In their last Copa del Rey matchup, Osasuna drew 0-0 with second division side Casdis. In the face of an all-out opponent, Osasuna rotated some of the main players, and the opponent defended tightly, disrupting Osasuna's attacking rhythm, and the substitutes were also in poor form, and the two sides were tied in regular time. In the end, Osasuna gave it their all and struggled to advance in extra time.
Judging from the past encounters, Osasuna set foot in the Spanish Super Cup for the first time, and the opponents are all La Liga powerhouses, even if they can beat Barcelona to advance in this game, facing Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and the like, it is still quite challenging to achieve good results. Given the importance of the Copa del Rey, there should be a trade-off at the club's hierarchy.
Looking back at the league meeting between the two sides at the beginning of the season, Barcelona defeated Osasuna 2-1 and managed to send opposition defender Katena red. In ten head-to-head battles, Barcelona won seven wins, two draws and one loss, occupying a psychological advantage. Although Barcelona's attack power has declined slightly recently, its overall strength far exceeds that of Osasuna, coupled with the ultra-high possession rate of 72% in the first leg, showing the absolute suppression of Osasuna's 442 formation. Osasuna are expected to focus more on the Copa del Rey and Barcelona, the defending champions, are looking to defend their honour and most likely progress to the Spanish Super Cup finals in regulation time.
The power of capital is like an invisible promoter, which often affects the direction of the event and the expectations of fans. In this Spanish Super Cup matchup, although Osasuna has been in good form and full of hard work recently, rumors and public psychology suggest that under the operation of capital, the market is more inclined to witness a world-renowned Spanish national derby feast. After all, a pinnacle matchup like Barcelona vs. Real Madrid is not only about the collision of honor and strength, but also the guarantee of commercial value and ratings. Therefore, before this contest between Barcelona and Osasuna, many people tacitly believed that no matter what the result of the game was, the capital level may have already preset the script for the road to the final, and the most dazzling on that road is undoubtedly Barcelona to continue to move forward in order to reproduce the long-awaited national derby on the final stage.