Barcelona 2 - 0 Osasuna

Barcelona 2-0 Osasuna - Lineups/Stats
La Liga - Fixtures/Results

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Bojan were the heroes of the night, as Barcelona claimed a win over Osasuna.

Barcelona started with their strongest possible line-up, with the exception of the injured Xavi, Gerard Pique and Eric Abidal. Osasuna, meanwhile, were missing a host of first team strikers.

Unsurprisingly, Lionel Messi created the first chance of the game, playing Ibrahimovic through, only to see his shot saved by Ricardo. At the other end, Krisztian Vadocz found himself one-on-one with Victor Valdes, but the Barca 'keeper was up to the task.

On 14 minutes, Messi was in the thick of it again, but his free kick hit the wall and deflected just wide. From the resulting corner, Thierry Henry's lob nearly beat Ricardo, but the 'keeper palmed the ball away just in time.

The Blaugrana continued to dominate possession, but were struggling to create any genuine chances. With ten minutes left in the half, Ibrahimovic sent a volley towards goal, but it was deflected over.

The rest of the half followed the same pattern, but it came to a tame end, as both sides went into the break looking for the first goal.

Pep Guardiola made a change at half-time, taking Henry off for Pedro. The youngster immediately added more life to Barca's attack, and he soon played a great ball in for Messi, but 'La Pulga' could only get a faint touch on it at full stretch, as it dribbled wide.

Just before the hour mark, Yaya Toure put a cross in for Messi, but his finishing was off target again, as this time he headed over the bar. Minutes later, the Ivorian was on the end of a cross from Andres Iniesta, but his header was also wide of the mark.

With twenty minutes remaining, Seydou Keita replaced Sergi Busquets, and he almost made an immediate impact, but saw his header stopped by Ricardo after Dani Alves' cross.

A goal seemed imminent, and it arrived on 72 minutes, when Ibrahimovic found himself on the end of Maxwell's ball across the box, and tapped into an empty net. 

Osasuna were shocked by the blow, and nearly fell further behind when Messi unleashed from outside the box, only to see his effort smash the outside of the post. That goal soon arrived though, when, in similar fashion to the first, Bojan turned in Iniesta's cross from the left to seal the game.

That proved to be the final action of a game that Barca eventually won with ease, heaping the pressure on Real Madrid, who travel to Getafe tomorrow.