The lowdown on CA Osasuna
FC Barcelona face Osasuna in an originally postponed fixture this coming Wednesday at 7pm CEST. Here's a closer look at the opposition.
Where are they from?
Osasuna are from the city of Pamplona, the largest city and capital of the region of Navarra. Known as Iruñea in the Basque language, the city of 209,000 people is best known internationally for the San Fermín festival in July, which features the famous ‘running of the bulls’.
History
The club was founded in 1920 out of a merger between two older clubs and its name means something like ‘health’ / ‘strength’ in the Basque language. Other than a brief period in the 1950s, when they finished as high as fifth in La Liga, they had spent most of their years in the lower divisions until returning to the top flight in 1980.
Since then they have been a more or less permanent fixture in the first division, usually finishing mid-table but occasionally making it into the UEFA Cup/Europa League, their best run coming in 2006/07 when they went all the way to the semi-finals.
They have also made it to the Copa del Rey final twice this century, losing to Real Betis in 2005 and to Real Madrid last season.
Head to head
Barça have lost just one of their last 16 games with Osasuna, a shock home defeat in 2020. And there have been some historically huge wins, including an 8-0 battering for the reds in 2013/14 and a 7-0 win two seasons later, with Leo Messi scoring hat-tricks on both occasions.
The five games played since Xavi took charge of the team have all been blaugrana wins, albeit not by such emphatic margins. These have included a 2-1 win at El Sadar earlier this season decided by a late Robert Lewandowski penalty and then the game in Saudi Arabia in the semi-final of the Spanish Super Cup just 20 days ago.
Last five meetings
11/01/24 (SUPER CUP) Barça 2-0 Osasuna
03/08/23 (LIGA) Osasuna 1-2 Barça
02/05/23 (LIGA) Barça 1-0 Osasuna
08/11/22 (LIGA) Osasuna 1-2 Barça
13/03/22 (LIGA) Barça 4-0 Osasuna
Form guide
Osasuna won just four of their first 16 games this season, but recent games have seen an upturn in fortunes with three wins in four games, against Rayo, Almeria and Getafe. But those nine haven't had much on impact on their league position, for they are still in the 12th place that they were before.
Their Conference League bid didn't last long, for they lost a playoff to Club Bruges and hence missed out on the group stage, and they also crashed out of the Copa del Rey early, losing to Real Sociedad.
The players
The big threat in the Osasuna ranks is Croatian striker Ante Budimir, whose ten goals so far this season are already his second best tally ever. But in six previous meetings with Barça, he has yet to score, with Chimy Ávila and David García featuring as Osasuna's highest goalscorers against Barça in the current squad.
International caps
Johan Mojica (Colombia, 22), Ante Budimir (Croatia, 17); Darko Brašanac (Serbia, 3); David García (Spain, 1)
Barça connections
Winger José Arnaiz played for Barça B in the 2017/18 season, and also featured for the first team in the early rounds of the Copa del Rey. He scored three goals in the competitions, and only needed three shots to do it! His only league appearance came when he replaced Sergi Roberto towards the end of a game with Levante. Since then, Arnaiz has played for Leganés, and joined Osasuna in the summer.
The boss
Jagoba Arrasate never played football at the highest level, but impressed as a coach at Real Sociedad, eventually taking over the first team in their Champions League season of 2013/14. He took the Osasuna job in 2018, originally just for one year, but after guiding the team back into the first division he has been there ever since.