Kounde, Cancelo, Gavi react after Osasuna 1-2 Barcelona: “Would’ve lost this match two years ago”

Robert Lewandowski’s late penalty earned Barcelona a tight and crucial win against Osasuna on Sunday and defender Jules Kounde, who had opened the scoring on the night, has said that although he has not seen the replay of the incident, it looked like a penalty for him.

As Barcelona continued to look for goal, a lofted from Frenkie de Jong found Lewandowski near Osasuna’s goal. The former Bayern Munich centre-forward got into a tussle with Alejandro Catena before going to the ground.

While the referee’s initial reaction was a yellow card and a penalty, VAR intervened, resulting in Catena’s sending-off. The Polish striker scored from the spot and Barcelona made sure they returned home with all three points.

“It was very tough but we got this victory by working hard,” said Kounde after the game (h/t SPORT).

“I only saw the penalty once, I think it was a penalty. I haven’t watched the replay yet, but it looked like a penalty to me,” he added.

Meanwhile, the likes of Joao Cancelo and Joao Felix made their Barcelona debut on Sunday and Kounde is certain that “they are going to help us and they are going to give us a plus at an offensive level. Technically they are good and they are going to help us.”

Debutant Cancelo

Cancelo made a thumping start to his new life in La Liga. Having replaced Sergi Roberto in the 59th minute, the Portugal international made some important contributions and while speaking after the game, he said (h/t SPORT):

“I’m very proud of my debut for Barça, it’s a massive prize for me.” 

He admitted that his new teammates have welcomed him very nicely. “My teammates welcomed me very nicely. We have a good team and we can do good things with this group.”

The defender added that he will fight hard for the right-back spot this season. “We’ll see if I can start as a right-back. It will be hard because there are many quality players, but I will work hard to be there.”

Gavi’s milestone

The game on Sunday marked the 100th appearance of 19-year-old Gavi for Barcelona. And while he was proud to reach the milestone, he conceded that “If we played this match two years ago, we would have lost.”

“We give everything we have in our tank. We always want to win, with that competitive edge,” he added.

“This is a very difficult stadium and we have improved a lot with the coach. In such tough pitches now we take the victory. We have learned that,” he concluded.