ANOTHER CHANCE AT EL SADAR

Match details

Osasuna-Sevilla FC

Matchday 33 LALIGA EA Sports

El Sadar

Thursday 24 March 19:00 CEST

History

Club Atlético Osasuna, founded in 1920 and based in Pamplona are the only La Liga team from the region of Navarre. There are also the only team with a Baque name ‘Osasuna’ which means health or strength. Despite never winning a national title, they have twice reached the Copa del Rey (2005, 2023) and their best league finish is 4^th on two occasions in 1990/91 and 2005/06. After suffering relegation in 2016/17 they were promoted back into the top-flight as champions of the 2018/19 Segunda División and have been playing in La Liga for the past six seasons.

Standings

After finishing 11^th last season, Osasuna find themselves in the exact same position ahead of kick off with 41 points from 32 games so far this season. Firmly in the hunt for a European place with eighth place likely to be enough to get into the Conference League, they are three places and two points away, although there is a cluster of teams fighting for that final European place in this final stretch of the season. Having gone nine games without a win stretching back to March, back-to-back wins in their two last games (2-1 against Girona and 3-2 against Valladolid) have stopped the slide.

Last five meetings

2/12/24 Sevilla 1-1 Osasuna

29/1/24 Sevilla 1-1 Osasuna   

23/9/23 Osasuna 0-0 Sevilla

26/2/23 Sevilla 2-3 Osasuna

25/1/23 Osasuna 2-1 Sevilla (Copa del Rey)

Key player: Ante Budimir

The Croatian striker is enjoying another fine individual season with Osasuna with 18 goals and three assist so far this season – the third highest scorer this season only behind Robert Lewandowski and Kylian Mbappé. In total he has been involved in 54% of Osasuna’s league goals this season. Standing at 6ft 3, Budimir is a threat at set pieces and he arrives in excellent form with a goal and an assist in his penultimate game against Girona before following it up with a brace in the win against Real Valladolid.

Coach: Vicente Moreno

As a player, Moreno was a defensive midfielder best known for his 11-year spell at Xerez, where he made over 400 appearances and helped them achieve promotion to La Liga. He retired in 2011 and quickly moved into coaching. Moreno has managed several clubs, including Gimnàstic, Mallorca, and Espanyol, guiding both Mallorca and Espanyol to top-flight promotions. After short stints in Saudi Arabia and at Almería, he became Osasuna's head coach in July 2024.

Player links

Of the current squads, Álvaro Fernández signed for Osasuna’s B team in 2014 and made one first-team appearance in La Liga against Villareal CF in September 2016 before signing for AS Monaco.

Going back further some of the players to have played for both teams during their career include Juan Carlos Unzué, Emiliano Armenteros and Lolo.