La Liga leaders Real Madrid stung by late Osasuna winner

2026-02-21 - 22:04

Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe (left) in action against Osasuna’s Javi Galan during their La Liga football match. (EPA Images pic) PAMPLONA: Raul Garcia’s superb 90th-minute strike consigned leaders Real Madrid to a 2-1 defeat at Osasuna in La Liga on Saturday, in a blow to their title hopes. Champions Barcelona trail Madrid by two points but can overtake them on Sunday if they beat Levante at Camp Nou. Alvaro Arbeloa’s Madrid put on a below-par performance in Pamplona and fell behind to an Ante Budimir penalty, before Vinicius Junior pulled the visitors level. The second leg of Madrid’s Champions League play-off against Jose Mourinho’s Benfica on Wednesday seemed to play on their minds as they failed to kick on at El Sadar. Vinicius, who scored a sensational goal to give Madrid a slender first-leg lead but was then the victim of alleged racial abuse, thought he had earned his team a point before Garcia blasted home the winner. “It was not a good game from us... we have to play a lot better,” Arbeloa told reporters. “Nobody likes to lose, us least of all, but we’re not hurt. There’s a long way to go. “We had control at some points but we lacked speed in our play... on Wednesday we have another final, another game that is very important for us.” Croatian target man Budimir curled narrowly wide of Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’s far post early on, the first of many problems he gave the visitors. The Belgian stopper made an excellent save a few minutes later, after Budimir tried to nod home Ruben Garcia’s cross under pressure from Alvaro Carreras. Budimir also clipped