FC Barcelona are set to face Osasuna in their upcoming La Liga fixture, but the attention of everyone associated with the club is still lingering on the events of the last week. After the defeat to Villarreal in their last league match, Xavi announced that he will be leaving the Catalan club at the end of the season.
This announcement from Xavi will have significant implications for the club, both in the long and the short term. In the latter regard, one of the aspects that most people will be interested to see is the starting lineup that Xavi selects for the upcoming match against Osasuna, as Xavi can select his personnel from now on without too much pressure.
One interesting foresight about this likely starting eleven for the Osasuna match has been provided by Ivan San Antonio in his piece at SPORT. The journalist forecasts that with one exception, Xavi will go into this match with his preferred backline.
The only doubt about the backline personnel is whether Christensen or Cubarsi will play. Xavi has already claimed that he will be particularly careful with the Danish defender, and as Cubarsi has given no reasons not to keep playing on the highest level in his last few appearances, the youngster can get another start for Barcelona in this match.
Thus, Cubarsi can join Araujo to complete the center of the defense for Xavi’s team. Kounde will likely go back to the right-back position for this match, while Cancelo will play on the left flank as Alejandro Balde and Marcos Alonso are both unavailable due to injuries.
The midfield will be made up of the usual suspects of Pedri, Gundogan, and Frenkie de Jong, but Fermin Lopez can also get some minutes in this match. For the attack, Lewandowski, Yamal, and Torres will be the front three, especially as both Raphinha and Joao Felix are unavailable for this match.
