FC Barcelona (1st, 40pts) vs CA Osasuna (15th, 15pts)*
*Standings at beginning of Matchday
Competition/Round: 2025-26 La Liga, Matchday 16
Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Ronald Araujo, Gavi, Dani Olmo (out), Iñigo Martínez (no longer at the club, can’t sue this time!)
Osasuna Outs & Doubts: Iker Benito (out), Aitor Fernández (doubt)
Date/Time: Saturday, December 13, 2025, 6.30pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 5.30pm GMT (UK), 12.30pm ET, 9.30am PT (USA), 11pm IST (India)
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Referee: Adrián Cordero Vega
VAR: Carlos Del Cerro Grande
How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), SuperSport (Nigeria), Movistar (Spain), others
How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), LaLigaTV (UK), FanCode (India), Movistar+ (Spain), others
Following a hard-fought win over Frankfurt in the Champions League in midweek, Barcelona are ready for their next challenge as they play a La Liga match against Osasuna (and their lawyers) at the Greatest Stadium on Earth on Saturday evening.
Barça come into this one looking to open up a temporary seven-point lead at the top of the La Liga table with a win at home before Real Madrid and Villarreal face tricky away matches on Sunday. The Blaugrana have won six in a row in the league and are taking advantage of the stumbles from their rivals, and have a real chance to finish the year in a very strong position at the top of the standings.
Saturday’s challenge is against an Osasuna team who had won just one game in La Liga since October before a crucial victory over Levante last Monday, which provided some temporary relief in what looks like a battle against relegation this season for a team that has always finished around mid-table and/or challenged for European spots over the last half-decade.
Osasuna’s struggles are a bit of a surprise given most of the squad from last season is still around, and players like Ante Budimir and Aimar Oroz, who were at the core of so much of their success, aren’t performing nearly as well in the current campaign. The attack has been poor, and their away form is an absolute disaster: Osasuna have just two points from eight games on the road and have scored just three goals, two of which came in miracle late fashion against Mallorca last month.
Barça will be big favorites in this one, and utterly dominated the last meeting at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium back in March when the Catalans won 3-0 and could have scored even more. The Blaugrana have been really good in La Liga recently, and will be expected to dominate and win comfortably again.
It’s easy to take games like this one for granted, though, and a narrow 2-1 win against Frankfurt’s terrible defense in midweek proves that there are no easy games in football these days and bad teams can still cause you problems. Barça must learn the lesson from what happened against the Germans and be much more creative and clinical up front, and maybe, just maybe, not concede the first goal this time.
Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan; Kounde, Cubarsí, Martín, Balde; Eric, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Osasuna (4-1-4-1): Herrera; Rosier, Catena, Boyomo, Bretones; Torró; García, Moncayola, Aimar, Muñoz; Budimir
Osasuna have been bad this season but still have enough talent to make this a tough game, but I expect Barça to show their strength and maintain their solid advantage at the top of the table: 3-0 to the home team.
