PAMPLONA: Osasuna shattered Barcelona’s perfect start to the La Liga leaders’ season with an emphatic 4-2 victory on Saturday. The Catalans have won all seven of their opening games but Hansi Flick’s turnaround was badly rewarded in Pamplona as Ante Budimir scored either side of Bryan Zaragoza’s strike. Pau Victor gave Barca a lifeline to drag them back into the game before Budimir scored his second goal from the penalty spot. Abel Bretones added a sensational fourth from the edge of the box before Lamine Yamal pulled one back with a fine effort of his own. Victory would match Barcelona’s best start to a league campaign with eight straight wins, but they were unable to build on their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid. The Spanish champions will visit third-placed Atlético Madrid in a derby on Sunday. “It’s normal that they take turns, there are a lot of games, that’s not an excuse,” Barcelona midfielder Pedri told Movistar. “We deserved a bit more in the second half but we scored goals when we were at our best.” Ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League game against Young Boys, Flick shuffled his pack. The coach handed starts to defenders Gerard Martin and Sergi Dominguez, as well as Pablo Torre in midfield and Victor in attack. The coach retained Spain’s Euro 2024 star Yamal and Brazilian winger Raphinha among other regular selections. As a result, Barcelona failed to ignite in the first half and Osasuna winger Zaragoza took center stage. Last season, Zaragoza struck twice while playing for Granada in a 2-2 draw against Barca, helping him to a move to Bayern Munich. Zaragoza, on loan from the German giants, created the opener for Budimir with a fine cross which the Croatian nodded home with ease in the 18th minute as he escaped the attention of Dominguez. Zaragoza finished off the second himself 10 minutes later after being sent through on goal, the winger rounding goalkeeper Inaki Pena with a fine lob before slotting into an empty net. Barcelona complained about a foul on Victor in the play-offs, but the referee dismissed their complaints. The leaders created little themselves, with Ferran Torres having the best start. However, the Spanish winger did not control himself well on the edge of the penalty area and Osasuna’s defense quickly absorbed him. Yamal, Raphinha and Ansu Fati warmed up at half-time and Barcelona had to turn to their stars to come back. Before Flick could send them on, Victor pulled Barcelona back into the game. Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera misplaced the ball, which was intercepted by Martin, who fed Victor. The striker fired an early shot from distance that Herrera, who slipped on the way back to his goal, should have kept out, but couldn’t. Flick took off top scorer Robert Lewandowski, who was largely absent, with 20 minutes remaining and moved Torres into the middle to plug the gap. However, Osasuna increased their lead almost immediately when 19-year-old centre-back Dominguez brought down Budimir in the area as he went to shoot. The forward buried the penalty with little effort, hitting hard enough to beat Pena, even as he lunged in the right direction. Ruben Pena missed a great chance to get the fourth when he ran at goal but was caught in two minds about whether to pass or shoot and Eric Garcia raced back to clear him as he wobbled. At the other end, Bretones was deadly from the edge of the box as he fought the ball back and beat Barca goalkeeper Pena. Yamal worked hard from distance and teed up Torres who hit the post but it was too little too late. Osasuna moved up to sixth and Zaragoza said his side were determined to beat the leaders. “We knew Barca were an incredible team, they had won everything and we knew we had to get stuck in, so we went there,” explained the winger. “It’s a special game and it’s really nice to play.
