Real Zaragoza 1-3 Osasuna: Visitors turn the game on its head after Zaragoza’s early lead

Osasuna moved out of the relegation zone and leapfrogged its opponents tonight as it stole the game 3-1 after initially falling a goal behind at La Romareda.

The game got underway with Real Zaragoza sitting two places above the relegation zone in 16th place with 39 points and Osasuna occupying 18th position with 38 points. The match got off to a tentative start with so much resting on the game. Both teams were making silly errors and giving possession away far too cheaply.

This led to the deadlock being broken by the home side in the 15th minute thanks to a composed finish from Angel Lafita. A hopeless lumped clearance by Zaragoza from within its own half led to a terrible attempted headed clearance from Manuel Lolo. It was difficult to see exactly what the Osasuna defender was attempting to execute with his header falling straight to Lafita who was left bearing down on goal. Lafita duly placed the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal past the despairing Ricardo. It was a calm finish from Zaragoza’s number 17 who seems to be hitting form at the perfect time after his brace against Real Madrid last week at the Santiago Bernabeu.

The remainder of the half was played out with a distinct lack of technical quality on show, but with a lot of heart demonstrated by both terms highlighting the significance of this bottom of the table clash. Zaragoza probably should have doubled its advantage right on the stoke of halftime as Ikechukwu Uche was played through one on one with Ricardo. The Portuguese stopper managed to block the Nigerian’s attempted shot after the forward had cut back in onto his left foot in the Osasuna penalty area. It was a good save from the experienced goalkeeper and meant that his team went in at half trailing by just the solitary goal.

The save did indeed prove telling as Osasuna brought the score level at on the hour mark after a wonderful one-two between Javier Camunas and Alvaro Cejudo. It resulted in Cumunas having a weak attempt on goal, only for Antonio Doblas to make a howler in the Zaragoza goal and allow the ball to squirm under his body and into the goal. It was a horrendous mistake on what should have been a routine save for the goalkeeper.

Osasuna then turned the game on its head and took the lead in the 70th minute as a Osasuna free kick led to a headed Sergio goal. Jiri Jarosik was left ball watching and in no man’s land leaving Sergio with a clear header which he expertly directed back across Antonio Doblas into the net.

Things then went from bad to worse for the home side as Osasuna went 3-1 up in the 80th minute as Kike Sola found the net with a close range finish into the bottom right corner of the goal after the assist came from Javier Camunas yet again.

This is how the game finished with the win moving Osasuna out of the relegation zone and up into 14th place. Zaragoza now has a real fight on its hands to retain its La Liga status as it drops down to 17th, sitting precariously just one place above the drop zone.