Barcelona, the leaders of the Spanish Football League, continues its pursuit of its 27th title in its history and the first since 2019, when it receives Osasuna at its “Camp Nou” stadium, on Tuesday, in the 33rd stage competitions.

The “Blaugrana” team leads the standings, 11 points ahead of its direct chaser Real Madrid (79 versus 68), and seeks to raise the difference to 14 hours before the perilous trip to the Royal Club to face Real Sociedad IV on the same day.

Barcelona hopes to continue its revival and achieve the second successive and 26th victory this season to consolidate its lead, waiting for a service from Real Sociedad to topple the royal club so that it becomes one victory away from winning the first title since 2019.

However, the Catalan club's task will not be easy against Osasuna VIII (44 points), who is having a great season and is on a historic date to face Real Madrid in the King's Cup final next Saturday, so he is looking forward to his trip to the "Camp Nou" as the best preparation 4 days before the expected match.

Barcelona suffers from fatigue within a reality that its coach and former midfield maestro, Xavi Hernandez, is well aware of.
The players are playing their fourth match in 10 days, and many of them have spent a lot of time inside the green rectangle in recent weeks, knowing that Barcelona, with the end of its match against Osasuna, will not play before the 14th of this month due to the lack of league matches in the cup final week.

In the event that Xavi decides to rest some players, his first choice will be Uruguayan defender Ronald Araujo, knowing that the latter has played all matches since his return from injury and will welcome the rest, especially with the Danish Andreas Christensen recovering and ready to play after he participated mainly in the victory over Real Betis and opened his team’s quadruple.

Christensen scored his first goal at the club level since he achieved this with the shirt of his former club, Chelsea, in the cup against Chesterfield in January 2022, and his first goal in the league since 2017.

Barcelona also got an additional dose of confidence with the return of its French striker Osman Dembele from the injury that kept him out of action for a period of three months, as he is likely to replace Brazilian Rafinha (10 goals and 11 assists this season in various competitions) on the right side or play With him in the event that Xavi decided to return Ansu Fati to the bench.

Polish Robert Lewandowski, top scorer with 19 goals in 28 matches, leads the offensive line, hoping to score for the third match in a row, after he scored in the 2-1 loss to Rayo Vallecano and the victory over Real Betis.

And Lewandowski, who returned to the scoring track after a lean period that lasted 4 matches, became the most scored player in “La Liga” in his first season with Barcelona since Cameroonian Samuel Eto’o (24 goals in the 2004-2005 season), according to the “Opta” statistics website.

The Betis match witnessed a historic event, with the entry of Barcelona teenager striker of Moroccan origin, Lamine Jamal, instead of Gavi in the 83rd minute, becoming, at the age of 15 years and 290 days, the youngest player to play his first match with the first team shirt in the league.
"We managed to rotate (the team), and this is another step towards the title," said Xavi after the victory over Betis. "In general, we needed a reaction (after losing 2-1 to Rayo Vallecano)...".

"It was an important day, and we have an identity again. It's a giant step to win this league. The reaction was vital, and we also won in a good way. I was convinced of what I saw. I have good feelings about winning the title."

For his part, and after beating Almeria 4-2 thanks to a hat-trick from his French striker Karim Benzema, who returned to the top scorer race with 17 goals, the Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti's men are preparing for the fourth Real Sociedad, seeking the last fourth card to qualify for the Champions League next season (58 a point).

The royal club suffered a painful blow due to the injury of its veteran Croatian midfielder, Luka Modric (37 years), in the knee groin, which will keep him out of action for at least two weeks.

The royal club is awaiting the King’s Cup final against Osasuna on the sixth of this month, 3 days before its most important continental entitlement in defending its Champions League title against English club Manchester City, which it will host at its “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium in the semi-final first leg.

Ancelotti expressed his happiness with his team's performance during the press conference defeating Almeria, revealing that he assured his players of the need to focus more defensively, referring to conceding six goals in his last two matches (losing 2-4 against Girona and conceding two goals in the victory over Almeria).

Despite this, Ancelotti believes that some defensive errors may benefit the team to develop in its upcoming benefits, while he praised the attacking trio Benzema, the Brazilians Vinicius Journio and Rodrigo, stressing the similarities with the former super trio with Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, Welsh Gareth Bale and Benzema.

And about Neil Vinicius Jr., his tenth yellow card this season and his absence from the next match against the Basque club, the Italian coach said, “It is clear that he does not win anything because of complaining, but it is surprising that he has 10 yellow cards. The most ruthless midfielder in La Liga does not have even 10.” Cards".

"He got a lot of cards and less to those who kicked him," he added.

The former Milan, Bayern Munich and Chelsea coach praised Benzema's offensive efficiency, saying, "He is performing well and has shown that. We are very good and dangerous in attack. When we are at the top defensively, the team performs very well in attack."

Real Madrid is well aware of the importance of the three points, as it will enable it to remain in second place amid enormous pressure from its direct pursuit of its neighbor, Atletico Madrid, who is facing a relatively easy test against Cadiz XIV.

Atlético, which is only two points behind the Royal Club, is looking for its third victory in a row after beating Real Mallorca 3-1 and Valladolid 5-2 in the past two stages under the aura of its brilliant star, French striker Antoine Griezmann.