Barcelona's Worst Performance Ends Their Title Hopes

The match was the summary of the season. Barcelona is very vulnerable at the back and predictable in attack, and any opponent can face them with few weapons.

All the doubts shown by Barcelona after LaLiga returned, but also before, were seen at Camp Nou. A flat team, without ideas and with just enough fuel, said goodbye to the championship in the worst possible way.

Barcelona's rivals have too much reward with little effort. It only takes a defense with three center-backs to stop the local attack, two full-backs with projection, work in the midfield, and a good transition to end the aspirations of Quique Setién's team.

Although on Thursday he had changed the lineup, with Braithwaite and Ansu as starters; Busquets, Luis Suárez, Jordi Alba, and Arturo Vidal on the bench; Barcelona once again became that predictable team that even bores from the sidelines.

The image of the day will surely be Arthur Melo opening his mouth in the stands. Only Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati made an effort to pull the game off, also Leo Messi, who was the closest to scoring in a first half of culé insomnia.

In addition, Osasuna scored on their second chance, both with Jose Arnáiz, a former Barcelona player, as protagonist. In the first chance, Ter Stegen saved, but in the second, Arnáiz beat the German goalkeeper in the 16th minute (0-1).

The merit of the action had the great play of Ecuadorian left-back Pervis Estupiñan, the lack of solidity from the local defense, and Arnáiz's finish.

Moncayola also had another chance (min. 21), with a long-range shot, but from then on, with more push than ideas, the game belonged to Barcelona.

Messi hit the crossbar with a free kick served in the 22nd minute, and ten minutes later, also from a direct free kick, he came close to scoring.

But Osasuna (one defeat in the last six matches) never lost composure. Barcelona pressed, a great combination was not finished by Messi after a good action by Sergio Herrera, who was startled in the 43rd minute after a own goal by Estupiñán.

Braithwaite, who tried but without luck, saw his goal being disallowed for offside (min. 47) by Messi, and then the Argentine capitalized on the attack with a good shot saved by Sergio Herrera (min. 54).

In the fourth free kick he had, the Argentine hit the target and equalized the game (1-1, min. 62), with Luis Suárez and Arturo Vidal already on the field.

Barcelona believed a little more, and five minutes later, Suárez scored, but it was again disallowed for offside. And from the 77th minute, Setién's team played with one more player due to Enric Gallego's expulsion and had more control, although not more opportunities.

On the day when Barcelona had to win to put pressure on Real Madrid, they were not even able to fulfill their part of the agreement and ended up losing with a goal from Roberto Torres in the 94th minute.

After the match, Leo Messi gave his version of the situation: "Playing like this, we will also lose against Napoli." Barcelona only has the 'Champions League' left, but does not seem to have much faith in reaching the final stages in Portugal.

Match Details:

FC Barcelona 1 - 2 Osasuna

Goals:

• 0-1, min. 16: Arnáiz
• 1-1, min. 62: Messi
• 1-2, min. 94: Roberto Torres

Referee: Sánchez Martínez (Murcia)

Source: Agencia EFE