Barcelona facing uncharted territory as they go into a La Liga game without their star forward for the first time this season | OneFootball

FC Barcelona were not very happy when March 27th was selected as the date to play the La Liga match against Osasuna, which was previously postponed due to the death of Dr. Carles Minarro.

The main cause for the Blaugrana club’s resentment was the lack of rest most of their players would have after having played for their international sides. In fact, owing to the lack of a sufficient break in between games, two of their players, Ronald Araujo and Raphinha, will be unable to participate in this game.

Ronald Araujo has missed a significant part of the season with injury, and with Pau Cubarsi and Inigo Martinez established as starters in the centre-back position, he has not been as important a part of the Catalan team as he used to be.

However, it will be a completely different case for Raphinha, who has emerged as one of the most important players for Hansi Flick this season.

In fact, as Mundo Deportivo has reported, this will only be the first time that the Barcelona coach will have to go into a match without the Brazilian star who has accumulated the second-most minutes this season.

Raphinha has played 3442 minutes in this campaign, a figure only second to Jules Kounde’s 3541 minutes.

The Samba star has started 26 of the 27 games played by the Blaugranes in La Liga so far, and the only time he came on as a substitute was precisely in the first game against Osasuna, which the Catalans lost 4-2.

Similarly, he has started all 10 games in the UEFA Champions League this season and is the top-scorer of the competition with 11 goals.

For the entirety of the season, he has sat out only one game, the first Copa del Rey game against UD Barbastro, as Flick decided to rest one of his most important players for that game.

Thus, tonight will be only the second time that Barcelona will have to go into a game without their most proficient attacker, who is a favourite to be the next Ballon d’Or winner with his 27 goals and 20 assists so far.