Barcelona boss Hansi Flick defends decision to heavily rotate against Osasuna as Blaugrana suffer shock defeat

Hansi Flick sent out a heavily rotated side as Barcelona fell to a 4-2 defeat against Osasuna.

WHAT HAPPENED?
Flick benched four regular starters on Saturday evening for their away trip to El Sadar. Given the hectic footballing schedule this season, the German decided to rest the likes of Inigo Martinez, Alejandro Balde, Raphinha and Lamine Yamal with Barca Atletic's Sergi Dominguez and Gerard Martin coming into defence while Pau Victor and Ferran Torres went up front alongside Robert Lewandowski.

THE BIGGER PICTURE
Within the first half hour, Barcelona realised the strength Osasuna possessed on the counter as goals from Ante Budimir and Bryan Zaragoza put the hosts 2-0 up. Pau Victor pulled one back for the visitors, however, Budimir was then on target before Abel Bretones gave Osasuna an unassailable lead despite Yamal scoring a late goal. Flick has now defended his decision to rotate this heavily but also shouldered the blame for the loss.
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WHAT FLICK SAID
Speaking to the media, Flick said: "We have to accept this loss. We didn't play well. I take responsibility. It wasn't a good game. We made a lot of mistakes, we made a lot of rotations to the team and maybe that's one reason why, but they were necessary, there are a lot of games and a lot of minutes accumulated.
"I told the team that I am responsible. We have an important match on Tuesday and we're on the right track. After the international break, many players will return, we will have more to choose from. The many rotations are no excuse, but we had no other option. It's my responsibility to take care of the players, and some of them had played too many minutes. Their rest was necessary."

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WHAT NEXT FOR BARCELONA?
The Catalan side will now look to focus on their second league stage game of the Champions League against Young Boys as they look to get their first points in that competition after a disappointing loss to Monaco. Speaking about the match, Flick said: "I'm very excited for the Champions League match. We need to get our first win, but it won't be easy. Young Boys are very fast and we'll need to deal with them."

WHAT HAPPENED?