{"id":486417,"date":"2026-02-23T22:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/486417\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T22:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T22:14:07","slug":"an-apotheosis-osasuna-rejoice-at-ending-15-year-wait-to-topple-real-madrid-la-liga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/486417\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018An apotheosis\u2019: Osasuna rejoice at ending 15-year wait to topple Real Madrid | La Liga"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s only one thing better than celebrating a brilliant 90th-minute winner that at last delivers victory over the team you most want to beat, 15 long years later. Celebrating it twice. So this Saturday, that was exactly what Sergio Herrera did. At the north end of El Sadar, where for one night only they thought VAR might be a good thing, Ra\u00fal Garc\u00eda applied the brakes, sent Ra\u00fal Asencio sliding by out of shot and curled a gorgeous finish beyond Thibaut Courtois to defeat Real Madrid 2-1<\/a>; at the south end, Osasuna\u2019s keeper turned, jumped over the hoardings where the ticker tape, armbands and beach balls lay spent, and leapt into the arms of the fans going wild behind his goal, an extra notch somehow found on that volume dial, pandemonium taking Pamplona.<\/p>\n

Which was when someone noticed that the assistant had his flag up, the referee, Alejandro Quintero, had his whistle in his mouth, and Garc\u00eda had his hands over his face. Herrera climbed down, lamenting his lack of patience, but he didn\u2019t have to wait long until everything turned out nice again and he got to have another go. Sixty-four seconds passed before Quintero took his finger out his ear, drew a screen and pointed at the centre circle. The offside overruled, the goal given, victory over Madrid close, Herrera set off once more. He sprinted along the line and back again screaming all the way, let loose for good this time<\/a>. \u201cBloody hell,\u201d he said after, the offside had been a blow \u2013 \u201cuna leche\u201d, in his words \u2013 but this was marvellous.<\/p>\n

Herrera is too, this moment much like him: a goalkeeper who\u2019s all in, a character who doesn\u2019t mind a carry-on, often as fun to watch as the football in front of him. \u201cPositively mad\u201d, he says, albeit with the stress more on the positive than the mad. \u201cI can seem edgy, nervous, but I\u2019m calm,\u201d he insists, and if he plays games he makes saves too, Saturday night taking him to 91 for the season, only behind Real Oviedo\u2019s Aar\u00f3n Escandell. Opposition fans enjoy calling him names but he\u2019s willing to roll with it, giving a little bit back and laughing at it all. As for his own supporters, his teammates too, they couldn\u2019t love him more and when he turned to them and roared at the final whistle, thudding at his chest, they roared back.<\/p>\n

This is their Herrera the way they like him and, besides, this doesn\u2019t happen every day. Almost any day, in fact. The last time Osasuna had beaten Real Madrid was in January 2011 on the night Cristiano Ronaldo asked Walter Pandiani who he was and how much he earned<\/a> and Javier Camu\u00f1as scored the only goal<\/a>. Osasuna\u2019s goalkeeper then was Ricardo, who was at Manchester United. Madrid\u2019s was Iker Casillas, after whom Herrera was sort-of named. Growing up in Miranda de Ebro, Herrera was a Casillas fan; he was also thin, all stick-legs, and one day a mum watching them play shouted he\u2019s not Casillas he\u2019s *Canillas (*shins, skinny), everyone laughed and it stuck<\/a>. Madrid\u2019s coach meanwhile was Jos\u00e9 Mourinho, Sergio Ramos was still a right-back, and at left-back was \u00c1lvaro Arbeloa. Now he\u2019s their manager, and he had warned them. \u201cI think I\u2019ve only won once in all my visits to El Sadar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Osasuna goalkeeper, Sergio Herrera, sets off after Ra\u00fal Garc\u00eda\u2019s late winner. Photograph: Ricardo Larreina\/AFP7\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t wrong,\u201d Arbeloa said after Madrid had been defeated on Saturday night but he wasn\u2019t entirely right either. There is no one Osasuna like to beat more and, back then, Madrid had won only a third of their visits ever. But while they\u2019re still the team that most gets this place going, while last year\u2019s visit ended in a 1-1 draw, a red card for rude Bellingham<\/a> and the most delirious argument anyone could remember even in a country where mass debate is just what they do in most of the media, arguing whether it was worse to say \u201cfuck off\u201d or \u201cfuck you\u201d<\/a>, things had changed. The economic balance, for a start. And Osasuna hadn\u2019t beaten Madrid in 15 years and 25 matches. This time, at last, they did \u2013 and deservedly, even if they needed the VAR.<\/p>\n

It had been some night. \u201cAnyone who comes knows this stadium is incredible every week, that there\u2019s always a good atmosphere,\u201d Herrera said. \u201cAnd then there are certain games where it is especially spectacular.\u201d One chant runs \u201cOh, how scared I am to be from Madrid and play at El Sadar\u201d and they welcomed Vin\u00edcius with Baywatch floats, rubber armbands and beachballs bouncing about<\/a> \u2013 the latter supposedly the only \u201caward\u201d he could win and a familiar sight after Madrid boycotted the Ballon d\u2019Or ceremony<\/a> insulted at the Brazilian being voted the second-best player<\/a> in the whole wide world. Most of all, though, the supporters welcomed their own team and the way they played.<\/p>\n

Madrid were just not particularly good, which is often the case. Herrera made two saves and Javi Gal\u00e1n twice blocked shots but Osasuna were worthy winners, often daring to play and always knowing when not to. The left-winger V\u00edctor Mu\u00f1oz turned Dani Carvajal so many times the defender turned to mush. Putting a 34-year-old who hasn\u2019t started since October and is still not fit against the league\u2019s second-fastest player surprised many. Putting David Alaba against Ante Budimir, possibly the best header of the ball<\/a> there is, did too, especially with Rub\u00e9n Garc\u00eda supplying crosses. Lucas Torr\u00f3, about whom we need to talk, impressed as ever. And when it came to making changes, Osasuna\u2019s subs were decisive. So, perhaps, were Madrid\u2019s, just not in a good way.<\/p>\n

Quick GuideLa Liga resultsShow<\/p>\n

Friday Athletic Bilbao 2-1 Elche<\/p>\n

Saturday Real Sociedad 3-3 Real Oviedo, Real Betis 1-1 Rayo Vallecano, Osasuna 2-1 Real Madrid, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid 4-2 Espanyol<\/p>\n

Sunday Getafe 0-1 Sevilla, Barcelona 3-0 Levante, Celta Vigo 2-0 Mallorca, Villarreal 2-1 Valencia<\/p>\n

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Budimir scored the first with a penalty on 38 minutes after he had run clear, gone past Courtois and Ra\u00fal Asencio and tumbled in the area. At first the Croatian was booked for diving, the fall given a little added theatre, but the referee was called to the VAR screen while players argued their cases, Herrera and Kylian Mbapp\u00e9 laughing about it. When he came back from seeing Courtois slightly tread on Budimir\u2019s foot, Quintero took the card away and pointed to the spot instead. The penalty was \u201clight\u201d, Herrera admitted. By then, Budimir had hit the post and Courtois had performed his daily miracle; now the Croatian, hurt that he hadn\u2019t been trusted in the first place, coolly rolled in the penalty.<\/p>\n

Although there was a little more from Madrid in the second half, it wasn\u2019t much. Vin\u00edcius scored the equaliser after a superb run from Fede Valverde. Too often Madrid reached the area and had nowhere to go but back again. Deeper now, Osasuna\u2019s resistance was mostly comfortable enough and then, with the clock heading towards 90 three subs settled it: Dani Ceballos gave the ball away and Ra\u00fal Moro found Garc\u00eda, who cut back sharply to score, Asencio going by like a kid on the slide watching the game pass as he went. It was something Dennis Bergkamp would have liked and something Garc\u00eda said \u201cI did a lot in segunda\u201d; it was also, Herrera grinned after, \u201cthe best time to score against Madrid\u201d, not long left to go, little room for a remontada<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ra\u00fal Garc\u00eda sits down Real Madrid\u2019s Ra\u00fal Asencio before scoring the winner. Photograph: Jes\u00fas Diges\/EPA<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I looked at the ref I thought: \u2018Bloody hell, what a kick in the teeth\u2019,\u201d Herrera said. \u201cI should have been more patient. But then when he corrected it, it was [even better]. I don\u2019t know how many times I\u2019ll beat Madrid \u2013 hopefully many more \u2013 but this was the first and I enjoyed it like a little kid. I enjoyed it, my team enjoyed it, the people enjoyed it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Herrera\u2019s goal-kick was the last kick, the ball still in the air when he faced the fans again, thumping his chest. Then he ran to the join teammates celebrating in the centre circle, heading round the pitch together before eventually heading off past the statue of San Ferm\u00edn bricked into the wall by the bench<\/a>, up the tunnel and turning left. Osasuna had done it: they had beaten Madrid and racked up a sixth game without defeat, fears of relegation replaced by dreams of Europe. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be so presumptions as to say we made history because this club has a long history, but this hadn\u2019t happened in recent history,\u201d the coach, Alessio Lisci, said. \u201cAt that last goal-kick, I stood looking at the stands. In the end, that\u2019s why we like football, why we play: to make people happy. I love to see the ground, the fans, the faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was so, so \u2026 that I don\u2019t have the word for it,\u201d Lisci added, the pause proving his point, but Diario de Navarra did: an \u201capotheosis\u201d. \u201cYou can imagine what it\u2019s like in there,\u201d the captain, Jon Moncayola, said, standing outside the dressing-room door. \u201cWe went through hard months but we\u2019ve turned it round completely and beating Madrid after I-don\u2019t-know-how-many years caps that off.\u201d Inside, amid the dancing and singing, the bottles being cracked open, the players were having a not-particularly-quiet word with the manager. \u201cThey threatened me: \u2018Give them a couple of days off or they wouldn\u2019t let me out,\u201d Lisci laughed, so he did. \u201cIt was euphoric in there,\u201d Herrera said and it wasn\u2019t over yet. It was just after nine on a Saturday night in Pamplona, time to celebrate again.<\/p>\n