Amid Barcelona’s strong season, something that’s flying under the radar is that there has been a shift in Hansi Flick’s attack. Last season, it was Robert Lewandowski playing the majority of the minutes at striker, but now it has been Ferran Torres who has taken the role and run with it. While Lewandowski had his best goalscoring season in his career under Flick at Bayern Munich and his best output at Barcelona under Flick as well, at 37, it was only a matter of time until a challenger came for the Polish striker’s spot.
How to watch Barcelona vs. Real Oviedo, odds
- Date: Sunday, Jan. 25 | Time: 10:15 a.m.
- Location: Camp Nou — Barcelona, Spain
- Live stream: ESPN+
- Odds: Barcelona -1000; Draw +1000; Real Oviedo +2000
What wasn’t expected was that it would be someone who was primarily a winger in the Premier League at Manchester City and has been a rotational player for Barcelona to end up taking that role, but that’s just what has happened. Flick asks his strikers to be involved both in the buildup and in putting the ball into the back of the net, which helps maximize the electric wingers that he has in Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, which Torres has done well this season.
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Torres is getting into good positions and taking good shots while turning into a consistent performer for the squad. Because of that, it should come as no surprise that Torres has become the top scorer in Barcelona’s squad in all competitions with 15 goals. Even with Raphinha and Yamal being the focal points of the attack, it’s been Torres netting the goals.
But in Barcelona’s upcoming match against Real Oviedo, Torres will be absent as he deals with a hamstring injury. He hasn’t featured since Barcelona’s loss to Real Sociedad, and while they were able to get past Slavia Prague with Lewandowski scoring a goal, the holes in the attack showed.
Returning to LaLiga play, Barcelona’s advantage over Real Madrid has narrowed at the top of the league, so pressure is on them to perform in every game, as a dropped point could see the league slip through their fingertips. While Oviedo are at the bottom of the LaLiga table, they come into matches with a compact defense to frustrate teams, similar to what Barcelona experienced in their shock loss to Real Sociedad.
In matches like this one, Flick will still need Lewandowski to roll back the clock as Barcelona will need the entire squad if they’re going to compete for a Champions League title while pushing for the LaLiga crown. Marcus Rashford can play striker in a pinch, but he has been preferred on the wing since joining the club from Manchester United, so all eyes will be on Lewandowski this weekend if he leads the line for Barcelona.
It’s a big week upcoming as they not only have this LaLiga match but will also face Copenhagen on the final day of the Champions League league phase, Wednesday (which can be seen on Paramount+), while looking to break into the top eight of the table, which would give them an automatic spot in the round of 16. If they’re able to do enough to win those matches, then it’s something that could save Barcelona games down the road, which considering how many players are currently injured, would only be a good thing.
