Osasuna face mission impossible after losing the first leg 4:0 at Camp Nou, but a good performance against one of world’s strongest sides could hand the team a much needed boost for their La Liga campaign.

Having narrowly escaped relegation last term thanks to the great finish of the league campaign, Osasuna entered the new season with pretty much the same ambitions.

The club management brought several quality players to compensate for the departures of Walter Pandiani, Nacho Monreal and Javier Camunas, and the team enjoyed a pretty good start to the league campaign.

Apart from the 8:0 defeat to Barca and 7:1 loss to Real Madrid, los Rojillos did brilliantly in all other games, and after the five-match unbeaten run they now sit in 5th place in the standings.

Jose Luis Mendilibar’s side could do nothing to avoid the 4:0 defeat in the first leg at Camp Nou, and they now aim to at least avoid a heavy defeat.

Important midfielder Raul Garcia returns to the side, but Jukka Raitala and former Barca defender Damia are unlikely to feature after picking up injuries against Real Sociedad.

Roversio Rodriguez, Kike Sola, Ruben Gonzalez, Jon Echaide and Masoud Shoajei remain long-term casualties.

Probable starting line-up (4-2-3-1): Fernandez – Bertran, Sergio, Flano, Satrustegui – Punal, Nekounam – Balde, Garcia, Lamah – Nino.

Barcelona suffered a heavy blow to their title ambitions as they failed to beat Espanyol at Montjuic, so Pep Guardiola will be looking for a response from his players.

The Catalans are now five points behind Real Madrid in La Liga and that looks like a big advantage when we take into account that los Blancos rarely drop points in the league this season.

Despite the 4:0 victory in the first leg, Pep Guardiola’s side are going to try and record another morale-boosting win, and odds of 1.36 (9/25) offered by Stan James on away win do look tempting.

The gaffers has no fresh injury worries at the moment, with Seydou Keita the only unavailable player at the moment.

However, he is expected to rest several starters, just like he did in the first leg. Leo Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta are unlikely to feature.

Probable starting line-up (4-3-3): Pinto – Dani Alves, Puyol, Macherano, Maxwell – Fabregas, Busquets, Thiago – Sanchez, Cuenca, Pedro.