Bay FC’s Asisat Oshoala prepared for ‘weird’ matchup with FC Barcelona

Asisat Oshoala could be excused for feeling a bit overwhelmed. Back from the Olympics, Oshoala is preparing for Bay FC’s second-half push, looking to score at a higher rate and find her footing in her new league.

First, though, Bay FC will host Oshoala’s old club, FC Barcelona, in a friendly Tuesday at PayPal Park. It will be Oshoala’s first time seeing the team where she became a star since she departed in January.

At Barcelona, Oshoala scored 117 goals in 162 games and is the club’s fourth-leading scorer all-time. She became the first African woman to win the Champions League with Barcelona in 2021. 

The six-time African Football Player of the Year and two-time Ballon d’Or Award finalist helped the club win the UEFA Women’s Champions League twice and finished 14 trophies before she departed for Bay FC.

Oshoala, who represented Nigeria at the Olympics, said she saw some of her former Barcelona teammates at the hotel in Paris, and that’s the only time she has been able to catch up with any of them since she left.

“It will be weird,” Oshoala said about facing her old team. “I hope I don’t pass it to the wrong team thinking this is my teammate. But it will be fun, I’m excited they will be here.”

When Oshoala signed with Bay FC, she had been frustrated with a lack of playing time at Barcelona. She had started just three of 14 games when she left, but had scored eight goals in that time. She was left off the roster of their last game before she transferred.

Since joining Bay FC, Oshoala has shown flashes of brilliance but hasn’t been the consistent threat she was in Spain. She scored the franchise’s first-ever goal in the 1-0 opening win over Angel City but has just three goals and one assist through 15 matches.

She departed Liga F leading in goals per 90 minutes, shots on target per 90 minutes, total shots per 90 minutes, and overall shots on goal.

The NWSL has been a bit more of an adjustment.

“I knew what I was getting myself into,” she said. “Coming from where I’m coming from, it’s really different from what I’m used to game-wise, the style of football. But these are the challenges that come with your career, everyone has them at some point in your career and you have to face them and move on.”

The duo of Oshoala and Racheal Kundananji was projected to be one of the most lethal in the NWSL after each commanded large transfer fees, but neither has produced at the level as some other international newcomers. Barbra Banda, Kundananji’s Zambian teammate in the Olympics, has 12 goals in her first season with Orlando.

Some of Oshoala’s struggles can be attributed to a lack of offense coming from the midfield, where she was used to being set up when she played for Barcelona. 

“She reads the game very well,” said head coach Albertin Montoya. “She has so many great qualities, you can see that she can be exceptional.”

Oshoala was benched in the Olympics, not playing the final game against Brazil, and it wasn’t the first time she was sat for the full 90 with Nigeria. After the Brazil match, she posted on her Instagram story, “I won’t be remembered as a woman who kept her mouth shut,” and four laughing emojis.

The end of her time at Barcelona was filled with frustration and restlessness. Her contract was slated to end this June, and the club elected to move her for the $162,000 transfer fee instead of letting her walk for nothing.

“I stayed five years in Barcelona, and that’s the longest I’ve stayed in a club, to be honest,” she told the Attacking Third podcast when she signed with Bay FC. “I feel I just want to change, I want to try something different. I just want to have fun and also when I was presented with the project of this club, I liked it and I decided to go for it.”

Bay FC (6-0-11) are in 10th place, two spots out of the playoffs, after their 2-1 loss to the Utah Royals on Friday. The match with Barcelona won’t count in the standings, but it could fuel Oshoala’s fire just a little bit more for the tough stretch of games ahead.

And if Oshoala did find her offensive touch? Bay FC might end up a threat after all.

“I think I’m almost used to it,” Oshoala said. “I think I’m getting there now. It’s like coming from the national team or seeing the African Cup of Nations where everyone has different styles of football, it’s different here, too. But I’m getting used to it.”

Reach Marisa Ingemi:

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