Barcelona put themselves out of a serious chance of contending for the 2012 Spanish League title after a 3-2 loss against Osasuna. Barcelona eliminated Osasuna from the Copa del Rey in January with a comfortable 4-0 win at the Nou Camp followed by a less comfortable 2-1 away win and they are mid way down the league table at the moment.
The loss was only their second of the season, but with a number of draws to their name Real Madrid was able to open up their lead in the league table to 10 points. While publicly the team didn’t admit to giving up, the reality of the situation meant that no real chance remained; it would take several Real Madrid players to be sidelined for the remainder of the season.
Real Madrid showed a impressive run throughout the 2011/2012 season, and by February had won all of their matches except three; two defeats and a draw. While Barcelona played well through much of the season to this point, they were also much less consistent and despite dominating possession in the majority of matches, were sometimes unable to score when they needed to.
The match against Osasuna coincided with freezing conditions throughout Spain in early to mid February and the pitch was one of the reasons Carles Puyol said the players found it hard to play as it was frozen solid. Barcelona just didn’t seem able to control the ball as they normally do and Osasuna, looking much more comfortable in the cold, were able to win the ball from the visitors again and again.
And the result was that the hosts went two goals up thanks to Lekic in the fourth and then the twenty-first minute. While Alexis was able to score for the Catalans five minutes into the second half, Osasuna continued fighting and Raul Garcia made it three for Osasuna just five minutes later.
Guardiola then decided to bring off Pique and in his place came Cesc Fabregas. He immediately set up a goal for Tello, who took the score line to 3-2 with a 71st minute goal. However, Barcelona was unable to do enough to even get one point, despite a relentless attack. Both teams had further chances, but neither side scored.
After the this match the team travelled to Germany to face Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League. The Leverkusen coach admitted that it would be hard to beat Barcelona, the championship holders.
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