Barça Gamble & Lose Their Way In La Liga

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The decision Pep Guardiola was forced to make on Saturday night was a tough one, all right. Did he gamble the last of his flagging resources in what was set to be a brutal, physical battle in Pamplona against Osasuna, in a league contest that was already looked lost? Or did the Barça boss take a chance and trust in the attitude and ability of his cantera talent and rest weary legs ahead of the restart of the Champions League campaign away at Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night?

The team-sheets suggested that Guardiola had gone for the latter. Pedro, Alexis and Leo Messi starting the clash demonstrated that the Osasuna game had not been completely conceded. But the sight of Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and Cesc Fabregas on the bench and youngsters Thiago and Sergi Roberto in midfield suggested that the league had become the lowest priority of Barça's three contests in the second half of the season.

Come May and another Champions League victory, it may well be seen as the sensible decision although the morning after the night before, local journalists were fuming over the performance of the league champions in a 3-2 defeat that saw Real Madrid open the gap at the top of the table to ten points after their 4-2 home win over Levante a day later. "To lose like they lost hurts," wrote Josep María Casanovas in 'Sport'. "No heart and no head," was the damning verdict.

The defeat was only the second of the season in la Liga for the Catalan club but displayed all the sins of the side away from home - a touch of lethargy and a lack of concentration. Gerard Piqué was guilty of both crimes on Saturday in utterly failing to keep watch on Osasuna forward, Dejan Lekic, for both his strikes that put the home side into a 2-0 lead, enough to push Osasuna to victory in the clash despite a panicked, late revival from the Catalan club.

"I don't know how we couldn't play the first half like we did the second," said Guardiola after the contest who observed that the gap between from the top of the table was "a big one," on the assumption that Levante would eventually lose out at the Santiago Bernabeu.

That Barcelona were to lose out at Osasuna was a self-fulfilling philosophy. The foggy, chill, mountainous town is almost Spain's 'cold night in Stoke'. The stands in the rickety Reyno de Navarra stadium, located in an industrial zone far from Pamplona's picturesque centre are packed with baying, bullish Osasuna fans - supporters who do not discriminate in that every visitor to their ground is seen as a threat to be rebuffed.

Osasuna's approach to football has always been an 'honest one'. Commitment, physicality, and passion along with a host of long balls and crosses. This philosophy, added to a rabid home support sees Osasuna being particularly strong at home with the northern side having only lost two of their 12 league games in their own stadium this season. Indeed, that's a good thing too as Osasuna's brand of football doesn't always translate away from home as 8-0 and 7-1 defeats to Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively in the first half of the season show.

Osasuna's barnstorming start against a sluggish Barcelona was too much for the Catalan club to take, tired after a Wednesday cup slog against Valencia. "I don't know if the weather affected them or the pitch," said Osasuna coach, José Luis Mendilibar, after the game, "but we played with great intensity. It's tough playing against Barcelona and we committed a lot of fouls along the way." Another good reason perhaps for Guardiola to have kept the struggling Xavi and Iniesta out of harm's way.

A whole host of reasons for Barcelona's failure this season which has seen 16 points on the road dropped have been chewed over for some time. Carles Puyol spoke on Sunday about fatigue, rather than effort being the key issue. "We are going out to win at every ground we play at but it's taking a lot more out of us away from home," Carles Puyol, "Things aren't going well but I don't think it's a lack of attitude."

Pep Guardiola complained publicly about a lack of proper pre-season for the side, a period that mainly consisted of globe-trotting exhibition games in comparison to the solid couple of weeks of hard training that Real Madrid under Mourinho enjoyed in Los Angeles last summer.

The Barça boss chose to have a small first team squad, with support from the cantera. In the long run, this might produce benefits with the emergence of the talented forward pair of Christian Tello (two goals in two league games) and Isaac Cuenca. But in the short term, it has cost Barcelona dearly, especially during January and the start of February, an intense period of football that saw the league being played at the weekend and two-legged cup clashes against Osasuna, Real Madrid and Valencia midweek.

Although the effort expended in the cup put Barcelona into the final where they will face Athletic Bilbao, it lead to a crash in the side's league form with seven points being dropped in 2012. At various times, Guardiola has been without David Villa, Pedro, Alexis, Iniesta, Xavi, Piqué, Puyol, Busquets - a huge strain for a club that also had the World Club Championships to face just before Christmas.

The situation probably isn't going to get any better for Barça. The Champions League clash against their Bundesliga foes is not going to be an easy one with Leverkusen sensing what all opposition teams have felt in Barcelona this year - vulnerability. Battles in the league against Valencia at home and then a rejuvenated and very tough-tackling Atlético Madrid in the Vicente Calderón then await. Times are already tough for Barça, but they may about to get even tougher.

Round 23 Results

Racing 0-0 Atlético Madrid

Osasuna 3-2 Barcelona

Betis 2-1 Athletic Bilbao

Espanyol 0-2 Zaragoza

Málaga 3-1 Mallorca

Rayo Vallecano 2-0 Getafe

Valencia 4-0 Sporting

Villarreal 3-1 Granada

Real Madrid 4-2 Levante

Real Sociedad v Sevilla (Monday)

Tim Stannard