February 22, (THEWILL) — A stunning 2-1 victory for Osasuna at El Sadar on Saturday inflicted a damaging LaLiga defeat on Real Madrid, their first loss to the Navarrese club since 2011, and denied Alvaro Arbeloa’s side the chance to move five points clear at the top before Barcelona face Levante on Sunday.
Thibaut Courtois kept Madrid level in the opening stages, producing a fine save to deny Ante Budimir a headed goal before the Croatian forward struck the woodwork.
The Belgian goalkeeper then found himself on the wrong side of a controversial moment in the 38th minute, adjudged to have fouled Budimir inside the penalty area.
Budimir converted the resulting spot kick into the bottom left corner to give Osasuna a deserved half-time lead.
Madrid sought a route back into the contest after the interval.
Arda Guler narrowly failed to level with a powerful strike, and Kylian Mbappe appeared to restore parity with a finish into the far corner, only for the effort to be ruled out due to offside.
Vinicius Junior ultimately brought Madrid level, converting a low cross from Fede Valverde, and Mbappe came close to turning the match in the visitors’ favour but his effort was cleared off the line.
The decisive moment arrived through a costly error from Dani Ceballos, whose loose giveaway allowed Raul Moro to break forward.
Moro found Raul Garcia, who cut inside Raul Asencio before curling a composed finish past Courtois to complete a memorable victory for the hosts.
The result leaves the title race in a delicate position heading into Sunday, with Barcelona able to close the gap at the summit.
Madrid will be acutely aware that a match they were expected to win has instead handed the initiative to their title rivals at a critical stage of the campaign.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
