PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Osasuna

FC Barcelona are back in action after the international break quicker than originally expected. In theory, there was no game to be played until Sunday's derby with Girona, but La Liga has deemed that the pending fixture at home to Osasuna, originally cancelled due to the death of Dr. Carles Miñarro, should be played this Thursday. This 9pm start at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is the first of a gruelling set on non-stop fixtures across three different competitions that are going to be a testing time for Hansi Flick and his players.

How it stands

FC Barcelona go into this game neck-and-neck with Real Madrid on 60 points, but the Catalans get the edge thanks to their head-to-head record, and also have this game in hand, which offers the opportunity to widen the gap to three. Thanks to the impressive comeback to win 4-2 at the Metropolitano, Atlético Madrid are now some way behind on 56 points, with Athletic Club also outside contenders on 52.

There are still ten more games to go after this, so a lot could still happen.

Team news

Marc Andre ter Stegen and Marc Bernal are both out for what looks like the rest of the season, and Andreas Christensen is still unavailable, while Marc Casadó was injured in the game with Atlético and misses this game too.

Pau Cubarsí was injured while playing for Spain but it is nothing serious and he should be able to play, although Flick has said that he won't be starting the game. The coach also revealed that neither Raphinha nor Ronald Araujo enter into his plans, as the Brazilian and Uruguayan have only just reported back from international duty in South America. However, the Uruguayan centre back was ultimately named in the squad given that he didn't play Uruguay's final WC qualifier this week. Iñigo Martinez has also been passed fit and is set to start with Eric Garcia as the centre back pairing.

The full 23 player squad is as follows: Cubarsí, Balde, R. Araujo, I. Martinez, Gavi, Ferran, Pedri, Lewandowski, Ansu Fati, Iñaki Peña, Pablo Torre, Fermín, Pau Víctor, Lamine Yamal, Olmo, F. De Jong, Kounde, Eric, Szczęsny, Kochen, H. Fort, Gerard Martín and Alexis Olmedo.

Osasuna form guide

FC Barcelona started this season with a tremendous run of seven consecutive victories. That run was cut short by a 4-2 defeat to Osasuna at El Sadar, the only time in their opening 12 games that Barça dropped any points.

At the time, Osasuna were enjoying a decent start to their own campaign, and were even knocking on the Champions League door. But a 4-0 crushing at the hands of Real Madrid heralded in a drop in their form. That was the first of a series of 14 games through to the present day in which they have only managed to win one game.

That said, Osasuna's games have been extraordinarily tight. Eight of their last 13 games have been draws, and just four have been defeats, all by a single goal, including a 2-1 reverse at home to Getafe last weekend.