Marked for Lucas Torró
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Sep 2028
Lucas Torró breaks a bone — 97 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match16 Sep 2028
3‑0, and Rubén García took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Osasuna tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match16 Sep 2028
Osasuna make home a hard place to visit
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.84 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match16 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Osasuna
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Nobody could get near Aimar
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Raúl Moro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2028
There were 13 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A fracture rules Lucas Torró out for 106 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Osasuna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match9 Sep 2028
5‑1, and Raúl García took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Osasuna tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aitor Arias
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A brace, and Rubén García takes the afternoon — 8.37
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rubén García provided it, and the 8.37 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.15 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market11 Sep 2028
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Raúl Moro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match9 Sep 2028
7 unbeaten for Osasuna
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Osasuna did not have in the autumn.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Sep 2028
Lucas Torró breaks a bone — 114 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Sep 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aitor Arias
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match2 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Osasuna's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Osasuna has to find a result from somewhere.
Market4 Sep 2028
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Osasuna, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Sep 2028
Osasuna make home a hard place to visit
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market4 Sep 2028
Raúl Moro wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Osasuna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market4 Sep 2028
The name of Raúl García has come up in conversations Osasuna were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Raúl Moro in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Aug 2028
Lucas Torró breaks a bone — 123 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 123 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aitor Arias
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match26 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Osasuna
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.76, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Raúl Moro was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
One of those days for Aimar
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.02, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match26 Aug 2028
A 2‑2 draw with Real Madrid leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market28 Aug 2028
Osasuna have made Raúl García available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
A fracture rules Ante Budimir out for 16 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Osasuna will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Aitor Arias
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Osasuna lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Aug 2028
A one-man rearguard from Andriy Lunin
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market21 Aug 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match19 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Osasuna
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market21 Aug 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match19 Aug 2028
Osasuna make home a hard place to visit
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Raúl Moro in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Nobody could get near Raúl Moro
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 May 2028
A one-man rearguard from Andriy Lunin
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match6 May 2028
6 matches without a win for Osasuna
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Osasuna are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings8 May 2028
26 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad8 May 2028
8 seasons of Aimar
122 appearances across 8 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Osasuna know what they have.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ante Budimir and Osasuna agree another 2 years.
Player ratings8 May 2028
Aimar runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 May 2028
Rubén García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings8 May 2028
19 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Market8 May 2028
Osasuna may not be able to give Iker Benito what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Iker Benito wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2028
A one-man rearguard from Andriy Lunin
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
Raúl Moro runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match8 Apr 2028
Nobody wins at Osasuna
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Ante Budimir in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rubén García is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad27 Mar 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 6.53, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Lucas Torró, 33, rolls back the years — 8.55
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.55 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Nobody could get near Aimar
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match25 Mar 2028
The run at home goes on for Osasuna
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Rubén García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Flavien-Enzo Boyomo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match25 Mar 2028
It finished 3‑1, and it was Jonathan Dubasin’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Osasuna.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Ante Budimir gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Moi Gómez keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Osasuna may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Kike Barja has been here 8 seasons
229 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Market7 Feb 2028
Andriy Lunin wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Osasuna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Ante Budimir was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Ante Budimir
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match5 Feb 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Alejandro Catena’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Osasuna.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Raúl Moro runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Dec 2027
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Match22 Dec 2027
The small margins put Osasuna out
Out, 2‑2 to Valencia, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
31 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Aimar runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Valentino Acuña, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.63
A mark of 8.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match25 Dec 2027
Still nobody has beaten Osasuna
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Market27 Dec 2027
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Ante Budimir in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces27 Dec 2027
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Age has not caught Ante Budimir yet — 7.94
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.94 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market13 Dec 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Rubén García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Ante Budimir falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match11 Dec 2027
Three points for Osasuna, 1‑0 the final word against Alavés in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
17 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad13 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Aimar's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Aimar wants out of the spotlight
The ambition story running the other way, and the one nobody tells: a footballer asking for a smaller stage, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is very rarely reported as anything else.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Dec 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market6 Dec 2027
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Ante Budimir was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match4 Dec 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ante Budimir. 1‑0 against Barcelona, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
A defender's afternoon for Lucas Torró
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad6 Dec 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aitor Fernández and Osasuna agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
7.89, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Osasuna had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Ante Budimir
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Aimar
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Boardroom
Osasuna answer back
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
161 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Rubén García, 34, rolls back the years — 8.85
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.85 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Rubén García in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Budimir is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match20 Nov 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Rubén García’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Osasuna.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Raúl Moro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Dani Parejo's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
The one thing Ante Budimir could not do
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
29 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Market30 Aug 2027
Moi Gómez hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Osasuna can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Aimar signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aimar and Osasuna agree another 5 years.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Rafel Bauzà is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Rubén García in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Budimir is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
Nobody could get near Raúl Moro
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces30 Aug 2027
Everybody has an opinion about Ante Budimir
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings30 Aug 2027
4.70 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Mar 2027
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 26 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market1 Mar 2027
Dani Parejo wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Osasuna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Ante Budimir in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market1 Mar 2027
Osasuna may not be able to give Raúl García what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Raúl García wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Raúl Moro runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad1 Mar 2027
The team sheet said everything about Jonathan Viera
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Jonathan Viera.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
15 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Feb 2027
Rubén García in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Feb 2027
Osasuna make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market22 Feb 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Abel Bretones wants continental football; whether Osasuna can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Budimir is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match20 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑0, and it was Ante Budimir’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Osasuna.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A defender's afternoon for Lucas Torró
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A masterclass from Raúl Moro
Marked 8.37 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Raúl García gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Dani Parejo knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Osasuna, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 Feb 2027
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Ante Budimir wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Osasuna hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Rubén García was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ante Budimir falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rubén García, and the manager let it.
Market1 Feb 2027
Iker Muñoz wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 19. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Aimar runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match23 Dec 2026
Osasuna march on in the cup
Mallorca are out and Osasuna go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Rubén García in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Dec 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Budimir is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Jorge Herrando was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.66. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Valentin Rosier was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lucas Torró, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Player ratings
Nobody could get near Raúl Moro
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Player ratings
Iker Muñoz never got going
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The terraces
Everybody has an opinion about Moi Gómez
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Jorge Benítez damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad16 Nov 2026
There were 10 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match14 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Osasuna right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Rubén García in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Osasuna this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Osasuna training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ante Budimir is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match14 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Aimar. 2‑1 against Real Madrid, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
Osasuna supporters have found a favourite in Raúl Moro
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Raúl Moro has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
A masterclass from Raúl Moro
Marked 8.70 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Aimar in the eights
A performance of 8.56 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.