La Liga: FC Barcelona 0-0 CA Osasuna: Player Ratings

For his fourth consecutive clean sheet on the road Valdes had very little to do. Officially he was credited with one save and a single cross claim in what was one of the calmest games of the season for the Barcelona goalkeeper. His long range passing struggled once again, but his short passes were on the mark. Valdes' highlight of the game came in the 83rd minute when he made one of his trademark 25 yard sweeper-keeper runs to clear a loose ball the could've led to danger.

Montoya had a strong first half, highlighted by his link up with Pedro that could've resulted in a goal had Pedro not gone for an extra touch. The young right back was solid defensively, making plays up and down the right flank in a performance reminiscent of Dani Alves. However, the second half didn't go well for Monty. First he was let down by his touch as he let a couple easy balls get away from him. Montoya also frustrated the Barcelona faithful in attack when he always tried to make an extra touch rather taking the shot on goal. But everybody would've forgotten about his misplays had his second half cross found the sliding Neymar in what surely would've resulted in the game winner.

Making his first appearance in seven months one would've expected to see some rust on the Barcelona captain. There wasn't any. In retrospect this was a perfect game for Puyol to get back into game rhythm as Osasuna did little to threaten. They came forward just enough to make Puyol feel comfortable on the pitch again. He even showed good speed tracking back a couple times – for a 35-year old at least. Though, that being said Puyol would still probably win a foot race with Gerard Pique. But not only did Puyol bring good defensive play to the table, he also brought back some much needed intensity and command that was missing in the backline over the last 220 days.

The young center-back continued to impress with another very solid defensive performance. Bartra was making plays left and right, helping out all of his defensive buddies at some point in the game.  Osasuna might not have thrown much at Bartra, but the young man handled every dangerous situation with ease. At the stroke of halftime he had an excellent opportunity to score the opening goal on a free header, but his aim was very poor. All in all it was another encouraging game by Bartra, and in this game he probably looked the most comfortable this season, possible due to the fact that he played alongside Puyol.

Because Tata Martino correctly predicted Osasuna would play a very defensive game he gave Adriano attacking orders. Adriano had very few defensive responsibilities, especially in the first half when he rarely made his way into Barcelona's third. But even though he spent most of the day upfield Adriano had very little impact on the Catalans' attack. In fact several attacks ended for Barcelona because of Adriano's poor passing inside Osasuna's third and his shooting wasn't much better with both of his attempts failing to trouble Andrés Fernández.

Tonight, Busquets played much deeper in between Marc Bartra and Carles Puyol, allowing the full backs to push higher up the pitch. Osasuna rarely provided an attacking threat which meant Busquets could focus his efforts on his passing game, completing 96% of his passes and contributing three key passes. One negative side was Busquets seemed to take longer than usual to convert the play from defence to attack.

A relatively low key match from Xavi tonight, which was reflective of the whole team. Often sitting back allowing Iniesta to roam forward, Xavi was rarely in a position to attack the opponent’s goal. The Barcelona number six did offer one good chance for Barcelona’s first. A chipped through ball took a deflection before landing at the feet of Cesc Fàbregas but the ex-Arsenal man couldn’t get enough elevation on his chip. His passing was also low, if you compare it to his ridiculously high standard, completing 86 passes with accuracy of 91%. Xavi will be hoping for a more of an impact on Tuesday night against Milan.

Promising signs from Iniesta, but the playmaker has still not contributed either an assist or a goal in the league this season. Although he did show an attacking element, hitting Barcelona’s only two shots of the first half. One which was an easy catch and the other which wasn’t far off row z. Nevertheless Iniesta made over 100 passes with an accuracy of 89% while his immense ball control meant his dribbles were threatening throughout. The signs are there and I imagine if Iniesta can just get one goal, the rest will come.

Anonymous for large periods and ineffective when he eventually touched the ball, this will go down as one of Pedro's most forgettable performances in a Barcelona shirt -- and that's no small achievement. In his defense, it's not like Cristian Tello fared any better on the right-hand side of the Barca attack...

Does Cesc Fabregas deserve criticism for his performance last night? Probably. But a 3.9? Yes, Fabregas was not at his best, but the fact remains that he was one of our more productive players. Even if his shots were inaccurate, Fabregas still mustered four more shots than the (spoiler) community Man of the Match Neymar.

Another good display from the Brazilian, but ultimately it wasn't enough to inspire the Blaugrana to victory -- as for all his brilliance, Neymar also struggled to find an end product. With a little help from the referees, his contribution may have been decisive, but it wasn't to be.

This is where I really take umbrage at the Fabregas criticism. After all, if Fabregas was so abysmal, why don't the hyper-critical Cules launch a similar tirade against Lionel Messi? Was Messi really an improvement on Cesc?

Barcelona square off against AC Milan and Real Madrid this week, and despite their 0-0 draw with Osasuna, they will enter the Clasico as league leaders. So why all the doom and gloom? Of all of the matches we play this week, this is the one that I would have chosen to drop points in and if a 0-0 draw with lowly Osasuna inspires our beloved Blaugrana to a Clasico victory next Saturday, I will be delighted. Certainly it could have been a lot worse.

I'm also curious to know why Martino has been given a lower rating than the team -- just what were his mistakes? Selecting a young full-back who we all wanted to play more minutes? Starting his strongest midfield? Martino made good calls, but they just didn't work out. Now isn't the time to lose faith.

With a little over half the vote, Neymar easily claimed the Man of the Match award ahead of the returning Carles Puyol.