Pedri, Araujo rest; Gavi starts in a 4-3-3: How Barcelona could line up vs Osasuna

Barcelona’s home form under the management of Xavi has become concerning, to everyone’s surprise. Both their European encounters at the Camp Nou have ended in stalemate, and they have failed to score a first-half goal in five out of eight games.

Overall, though, there are definite improvements. Creativity and innovation both have increased, with the team creating a lot more goalscoring chances. And barring the last two games, Barça have been cruising this year, scoring a truckload of goals.

Chances were far and few in between against Galatasaray at home, though. Barcelona’s truck of chances was looking like a tote bag against Marcao and Inaki Pena. And since the game finished goalless, Xavi has quite the task on his hand with regards to his starting lineup.

Ideally, Barça would have put away the tie in the first leg itself and rotated heavily for the second leg ahead of the Real Madrid clash. Moreover, with Atletico Madrid’s win over Cadiz last night, the next three games could end up defining the Blaugranes‘ season.

As such, join Barça Universal as we predict the starting XI Xavi could put out tomorrow night against Osasuna.

The starting XI

A few positions in tomorrow’s lineup will be unchanged, starting with the goalkeeper. Marc-Andre ter Stegen does not have an able deputy, and will almost definitely start in goal despite his underwhelming form.

At right-back, Xavi is expected to go for Dani Alves given the Brazilian’s absence from the Europa League. The veteran is in talks for a new contract, but must keep up his form. We predict Jordi Alba, too, will retain his place at left-back given the lack of rotation options.

Centrally, though, we can expect one change, at least. Ronald Araujo is a booking away from suspension. His presence vs Madrid is crucial, and consequently, it is likely that he starts on the bench, even though Xavi refused to give a straightforward answer about his participation during his pre-game presser.

Gerard Pique will come in to replace him, while Eric Garcia continues in the heart of the defence.

With the return of Gavi, one can expect that either Frenkie de Jong or Pedri will start from the bench tomorrow. The latter has not quite received as much rest as the former, and as such, he could be rested. Sergio Busquets will have to start as the pivot with Nico Gonzalez suspended.

Spoilt for options in attack, Xavi has been able to rotate at will. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was rested in midweek but starts in our version of the lineup. Adama Traore and Ousmane Dembele, however, do not.

Xavi would rather have the latter fresh for the two important ties in the coming week, while the Frenchman has not started a home game since December, primarily owing to his contract trouble.

It will not be surprising to see both Memphis Depay and Ferran Torres start tomorrow despite a less-than-ideal outing in the Europa League. The two could Aubameyang well, and give time to rotate in the second half.

Predicted Barça XI:

Memphis · Aubameyang · Torres
Gavi · Busquets · de Jong
Alba · Garcia · Pique · Alves
ter Stegen

The substitutes

With Nico suspended and Pedri likely to be rested, we can see Riqui Puig getting a few minutes. Xavi has been talking about how he wishes to use him more often, but is not able to.

The same goes for Martin Braithwaite and Luuk de Jong. The latter has been impressive form off the bench and could come on again provided he does not start.

It would not be farfetched to see Pique get some rest towards the final third of the game, with one of Oscar Mingueza or Clement Lenglet available as substitutes.

Not to forget Ousmane Dembele, who is more than likely to make a cameo appearance as is tradition for home games since the turn of the year.