Hansi Flick wanted to rest a number of its stars, so the Catalan team went to the match in Pamplona without, among others, Rafinha and Lamine Yamal (they entered the field in the second half).
The absence of these two had an impact on Robert Lewandowski’s position. The Polish striker played from the start, but it wasn’t his night, just like the rest of Barcelona’s players. He was deprived of the support of his teammates, disappeared from sight and left the field in the 70th minute.
Osasuna – Barcelona. Why was Robert Lewandowski replaced?
-He’s strong, but he also needs rest. We are doing it for his own good – explained the change by Flick, who used players with a total age of 36 years (17-year-old Pau Kuparsi and Sergi Dominguez who is two years older) in central defence. He overcomplicated his options.
After half an hour of play, the Catalans were losing 0-2 because they failed to mark Ante Budimir and Brian Zaragoza. Both became champions of Pamplona, who finally defeated Barcelona after 12 years in their own stadium. The former scored two goals on Saturday, and the latter added an assist.
