Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Dani Alves, Marc Bartra, Mascherano (Adriano 81’), Jordi Alba; Xavi (Alex Song 61’), Busquets, Iniesta; Alexis (Tello 76’), Messi, Pedro. 4-3-3.
Osasuna: Andrés; Oier, Loties, Arribas, Damià; Raoul Loe, Francisco Silva; Alvaro Cejudo, Roberto Torres (Puñal 69’), Armenteros; Oriol Riera (Acuña 83’). 4-2-3-1.
Goals:
1-0. 19. Messi. Got on the end of Alexis cross to turn shot in from close to goal.
2-0. 21. Alexis. Poked shot wide of Andrés after Jordi Alba crossed from left.
3-0. 34. Iniesta. Picked up ball outside area and struck long shot past keeper.
4-0. 62. Messi. Controlled Iniesta pass inside area and turned shot across Andrés.
5-0. 78. Tello. Cut across from left and fired long shot in to far corner of net.
6-0. 88. Messi. Steered shot in to near corner of net following Dani Alves pass.
7-0. 90. Pedro. Collected Messi pass inside area and poked shot past keeper.
Yellow cards: Arribas 47’, Mascherano 57’, Cejudo 81’.
Barcelona clocked up a morale-boosting 7-0 victory over Osasuna on Sunday evening, setting them up for next weekend’s “clásico” against Real Madrid. The defeat at Valladolid last weekend had left Tata Martino’s team four points adrift of their arch-rivals, and their victory on Saturday meant that this was a must-win match. The Pamplona based side had held Barça to a goal-less draw half a season ago though, and Oriol Riera got the ball in the net early on only for it to be ruled out for offside. A few minutes later though Messi got on the end of an Alexis cross to open the scoring, and a couple of minutes after that Alexis got the second after Iniesta and Jordi Alba combined to set him up. Later in the first half Iniesta made it three, beating Andrés with a shot from outside of the area, and although Riera went close again at the start of the second half, Messi scored his team’s fourth soon afterwards, his 370 th goal for the club making him their all time top goalscorer. Osasuna gave up at the point, and in the next quarter of an hour Tello fired home the fifth, Messi completed his hat-trick, and Pedro rounded off the scoring after another Messi assist. Next Sunday’s game is promising to be a cracker!