Lionel Messi and Barcelona paid tribute to the late great Diego Maradona with a 4-0 victory over Osasuna on Sunday afternoon at the Camp Nou.
Martin Braithwaite opened the scoring for the Catalan side, before Antoine Griezmann recorded his best goal of the season with a sensational volley before half time. Philippe Coutinho added a third before Messi capped it off with a left-footed strike and a celebration in honour of the Argentine idol.
There was another start for young centre-back Oscar Mingueza in Ronald Koeman’s starting XI due to the absence of Gerard Pique, while Coutinho and Pedri got the nods in midfield and Messi returned from his Champions League break to lead the forward line with Griezmann and Braithwaite.
The home side came out sharp and Coutinho should have scored early on, but instead was denied when Osasuna defender Unai Garcia cleared off the line.
Later in the half, Coutinho and then Braithwaite would be denied by a double-save from Osasuna stopper Sergio Herrera, however at the second time of asking Braithwaite was able to poke the ball over the line to give Barcelona a 1-0 advantage.
Griezmann was showing some of his best football in a while for Barcelona and was richly rewarded with his team’s second shortly before half time. Osasuna initially cleared a ball after some razor-sharp passing from the Blaugrana, but it fell perfectly for the Frenchman to latch onto and volley into net to double the lead.
Koeman made a move during the intermission, bringing on Sergio Busquets for Pedri, as Barcelona’s inch-perfect passing remained on display and it yielded a third goal right before the hour mark. An Osasuna giveaway deep in their own half led to a quick break and, after good work from Braithwaite and Griezmann, the Brazilian had an easy strike into net to make it 3-0.
Koeman went back to his bench to make a triple-substitution, with Trincao, Ousmane Dembele and Junior Firpo on for Braithwaite, Coutinho and Sergino Dest, respectively. An ankle knock minutes later for Clement Lenglet forced the final change, with Carles Alena on for the centre-back.
Outside of a Roberto Torres shot off the crossbar for Osasuna, Barcelona remained in control and the only thing missing was a Messi goal. The Argentine was not about to let the chance to honour the recently deceased Maradona pass him by, as he rocketed a left-footer into net to polish off the 4-0 scoreline. The best moment of all came in the celebration, with Messi removing his Barcelona shirt to reveal a Newell’s Old Boys shirt, a club that links the two Argentine idols.
From there it was a training session the rest of the way for Barcelona, who will return to Champions League action on Wednesday at Ferencvaros.