🏏 Sun, 6 Sep 2026 18:30 CEST
Deportivo Alavés
vs
Osasuna
3-1-4-2 vs 4-4-2
Substitutes
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Match Preview
- Fifth-placed Alavés and sixth-placed Osasuna meet level on seven points from three games, both unbeaten with two wins and a draw. Only goal difference separates them — plus four against plus two — and with leaders Barcelona already on 12 points from four matches, the winner stays in genuine touch with the early pace.
- Both defences have been outstanding, conceding just one goal each in three fixtures. Alavés kept clean sheets in home wins over Getafe (3-0) and Villarreal (1-0), while Osasuna drew 0-0 with Levante and edged Getafe 1-0, their only concession coming in a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo.
- Tactically this is Alavés' 3-1-4-2 against Osasuna's 4-4-2, and the lone pivot is the pressure point. Antonio Blanco, 26, a Real Madrid academy graduate who became a regular after a loan spell at Cádiz, has to police the space behind the midfield line by himself against the strike pairing of Ante Budimir and Raúl García.
- Pablo Ibáñez faces the club that made him. The 27-year-old holding midfielder climbed from AD San Juan in Pamplona through Mutilvera and Osasuna B into the first team before moving to Vitoria, and his ball-winning and running are now deployed as a screen against his former employers.
- Osasuna have a reunion of their own in goal. Sergio Herrera, 33 and 192cm tall, spent time at Deportivo Alavés alongside spells with Huesca and Amorebieta. His reliability with high balls will be tested by an Alavés side that will look to attack the box directly from wide areas.
- The two attacking pairs carry serious pedigree. Marko Díaz, 33, won the Champions League and LaLiga at Real Madrid before spells at Lyon and Sevilla, and partners Lucas Boyé, 30, a Copa Libertadores winner with River Plate. Osasuna answer with sheer height: Croatia international Budimir at 190cm and 192cm Raúl García, a Copa del Rey winner at Real Betis.
- In midfield, La Masia graduate Carles Aleñá, 28, is Alavés' creative reference, a left-footer comfortable in tight spaces. Osasuna's central pair is built differently: 189cm one-club man Moncayola, tied to Navarre on a decade-long deal, alongside 23-year-old academy product Iker Muñoz. How often Aleñá can turn will shape the game.
- The flanks promise a contrast in experience. Abdelkabir Rebbach, the 28-year-old Moroccan raised in Vitoria who cuts inside from the left despite being right-footed, should be met by 21-year-old academy right-back Íñigo Arguibide. On the other side, 171cm left-footer Rubén García brings more than 300 LaLiga appearances and his Levante upbringing.
- Both benches offer proven alternatives. Alavés can call on Denis Suárez, whose career takes in Barcelona, Arsenal and Sevilla, plus Guevara, a Copa del Rey winner at Real Sociedad who returned to the club that raised him. Osasuna hold back captain Kike Barja, at the club since the age of eight, and Raúl Moro, formerly of Lazio and Ajax.