Bad news for Barcelona, they can't beat Osasuna in the Super Cup and lost one of their aces

Barcelona and Osasuna are facing each other on Thursday at the Al-Awwal Stadium in Riyadh, for the second semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup. Awaiting them in Sunday's final are Real Madrid, who beat Atletico Madrid 5-3 in a memorable match. Now Los Blaugranas and Los Rojillos are on a mission to do the same.

However, the pressure is mainly on the Catalan side. They are one of the strongest teams in Europe and started this season with the aim of competing for the most important titles, so the Super Cup is a great opportunity for them. Moreover, in case they do not even reach the final, it will be a hard blow for coach Xavi Hernandez and the players, who have been criticized lately for their poor performances.

During the first half things did not go as Los Blaugranas had hoped. Osasuna's players carried out coach Jagoba Arrasate's plan to perfection and defended well, preventing Xavi's team from creating chances to score, except for a shot by Robert Lewandowski and another by Ilkay Gundogan that was saved by goalkeeper Herrera. Los Rojillos had the clearest chance through Ante Budimir, who made a beautiful individual play inside the box but then failed to beat Iñaki Peña.

Before halftime Barcelona received terrible news: Raphinha felt a muscle pain and required medical attention, so he had to be replaced by Lamine Yamal. Then the TV cameras caught the Brazilian winger on the bench and, judging by his gestures, he will be out of the field for several weeks.

Manager must not be satisfied

Once again Barcelona's performances have been poor and they went into the break without having been able to score. So perhaps Xavi Hernandez will make changes in the second half. The substitutes are Diego Kochen, Ander Astralaga, Hector Fort, Pedri, Marc Casado, Fermin Lopez, Oriol Romeu, Joao Felix, Marc Guiu and Vitor Roque.