Barcelona manager Hansi Flick confirms centre-backs against Osasuna and two absences | OneFootball

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has ruled out Raphinha and Ronald Araujo from their clash with Osasuna, despite them both racing back from international duty with Brazil and Uruguay respectively. Araujo did not feature for the Celeste in their 0-0 draw with Bolivia, but Raphinha played a full 90 minutes in Brazil’s 4-1 beatdown at the hands of Argentina.

Flick noted that being unsure of Araujo’s condition though, he would not risk either player at Montjuic on Thursday night. Both are flying back to Barcelona today.

“They have a long flight and it’s not the best way to recover. Ronald didn’t play in the last game, but after his injury, we don’t know how he trained. We’ll see what happens on Sunday. We have a good team, and what I’ve seen in training has been positive. We have to fight for the three points. If we win tomorrow, it will be a good reaction.”

Meanwhile Pau Cubarsi is coming off an ankle injury suffered on Spain duty, while Inigo Martinez was ruled out of action for La Roja before the break after a knee issue. The former returned to training on Wednesday, while Martinez was back in action from Monday.

“Eric [Garcia] and Inigo will play as center backs. Pau will be on the bench. It’s better for him to have a couple more days because he needs it. The injury isn’t serious, but it’s good that he has more days. If we had needed him, he would have played.”

No doubt Flick would have been irritated to see Pedri, Ferran Torres and Jules Kounde all participate in extra time for Spain and France respectively in the Nations League too.

“I’m only thinking about this week. The players from Spain, France, and the Netherlands need to recover. Today they had their first full session. This is how it is, and it’s not the best situation for them, but they’re professionals. I’m really happy with them, I didn’t notice any difference from those players, they trained really well. This team is incredible; they recover very well and are professional.”

There has also been an injury doubt over Robert Lewandowski, who came off the bench for Poland on Tuesday night against Malta. He had stated that he felt in better shape than when the international break started.

Image via RTVE

“He’s ready to play, we’ll decide tomorrow if he starts. He feels good, and it’s a good situation for us. Ferran is also in really good shape, so it’s really good news.”

The headline from the press conference was undoubtedly written in his first answer though, as he complained about the scheduling in Spain, feeling other countries protect their teams more. Aside from Araujo and Raphinha, it does look as if Flick will have all of the players that left on international duty available to take on Osasuna at 21:00 CEST on Thursday.