BARCELONA: Barce­lona manager Hansi Flick took the blame for his team’s 4-2 La Liga defeat at Osasuna on Saturday, saying that his decision to rest key starters had an impact in their first loss of the domestic season.

Flick dropped regular starters Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Inigo Marti­nez to the bench with an eye on Tuesday’s Champ­ions League match against Young Boys and Osasuna, roared on by a sold-out El Sadar Stadium, started aggressively.

Osasuna were lethal on the counter attack against a Barc­elona who went into Saturday’s game on the back of seven consecutive wins to start the La Liga season. For Osasuna Ante Budimir scored a brace and Bryan Zaragoza prov­ed to be a constant menace.

Zaragoza, on-loan from Bay­ern Munich, crossed to Bud­i­mir to open the scoring with a close-range hea­der in the 18th minute and the 23-year-old win­ger ext­e­nded Osasuna’s lead with a strike from a quick counter-attack 10 minutes later.

Barca reduced the deficit thanks to a massive blunder by Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera who failed to keep out a weak strike by Pau Victor in the 53rd minute, but Budimir extended the hosts’ lead from the penalty spot in the 72nd minute, after he was fouled inside the box.

Substitute Abel Breto­nes scored the fourth with a brilliant strike from long range in the 83rd minute, before substitute Yamal scored Barca’s second with a shot from the edge of the box in the 89th, but it was too little too late.

“You have to accept these defeats. We didn’t play very well. I think it’s my responsibility,” Flick told Movistar Plus.

“(With the rotations) I tried to protect the players, because they have been playing a lot of minutes. But I didn’t expect us to play like this.

“We made a lot of mistakes and Osasuna did well. To score four goals against us is too much, but I’ve told the team that we have to keep going. It’s a busy schedule and we are on the right track.”

There was a controversy when Osasuna midfielder Luc­as Torro stood on Pau Victor’s foot in the buildup to Zaragoza scoring their second goal.

The goal was given as neither the referee nor the VAR saw an infringement.

Barca top the standings on 21 points while Osasuna are sixth on 14 points.

Earlier, Real Sociedad defeated Valencia 3-0 and Getafe won their first game of the season with a 2-0 home victory over Deportivo Ala­v­es. Rayo Vallecano and Leganes shared a 1-1 draw.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2024