🏏 Sat, 12 Sep 2026 16:15 CEST
Osasuna
vs
Espanyol
4-2-3-1 vs 4-2-3-1
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- Osasuna sit ninth on seven points from four games (two wins, a draw and a defeat, goal difference minus one) and host Espanyol, 13th with four points from a win, a draw and two defeats. Barcelona have already pulled clear at the top with 12 points from four and a plus-15 goal difference, but the middle of the table is jammed: Osasuna are level on seven with seventh-placed Atletico Madrid, Racing Santander in eighth and Real Sociedad in tenth. A home win would lift them into that upper group.
- Osasuna's season began well with a 2-1 win at Celta Vigo, followed by a goalless home draw with Levante and a 1-0 victory over Getafe. Then came a 5-2 defeat away at second-placed Alaves, a result that accounts for five of the six goals they have conceded all season. Restoring defensive control in front of their own supporters is the first item on their agenda.
- Espanyol opened with a 3-0 home win over Levante, then lost 2-1 to Real Madrid at home and 2-1 away at Real Sociedad before drawing 1-1 with third-placed Sevilla last time out. Only five goals conceded in four matches suggests their structure has held up against strong opposition. The Levante comparison is instructive too: Espanyol beat them 3-0, while Osasuna could not break them down in a goalless draw.
- Height is Osasuna's calling card. Left-footed Croatia international Ante Budimir (35, 190cm) leads the line, 192cm Raul Garcia (25), a Copa del Rey winner with Real Betis, plays just behind him, and 194cm centre-back Catena (31) anchors the back line. Espanyol have answers in 190cm left-footed Uruguayan Leandro Cabrera (35), a veteran of Atletico Madrid and Getafe, and 194cm goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic (34), so set pieces could easily settle this.
- The deliveries will largely come from Diego Rico (33), a left-back with Premier League experience at Bournemouth and a spell at Real Sociedad, whose left foot makes him Osasuna's set-piece taker. On the opposite flank, 21-year-old academy graduate Inigo Arguibide provides width and can also operate as a right winger. Espanyol's full-backs are just as young: 21-year-old academy product Roger Hinojo and Omar El Hilali (23), a homegrown defender with Moroccan roots who famously turned down two approaches from Barcelona.
- Both sides set up in a 4-2-3-1, which makes the double pivots a direct duel. Osasuna pair academy-raised holding midfielder Iker Munoz (23) with 189cm homegrown all-rounder Moncayola (28), who carries the ball forward as well as he screens. Espanyol counter with Urko Gonzalez (25, 186cm), a Real Sociedad youth product who can also fill in at centre-back, and Edu Exposito (30), who honed his passing game at Deportivo and Eibar and sets the tempo.
- Osasuna's line-up is a monument to their academy. Captain Kike Barja (29) joined the club at the age of eight and has never played for anyone else, while Munoz, Moncayola and Arguibide all came through the same system. The bench adds Asier Osambela (22), who arrived aged ten, and Mauro Etxegoien (32), at the club since the under-12s. Rounding it out is 33-year-old Ruben Garcia (171cm, left-footed), a winger with more than 300 La Liga appearances behind him.
- Espanyol build their attack around Roberto Fernandez (24, CF, 186cm), on loan from Braga after developing at Malaga and Barcelona B, who scored the winner on his debut for the club. Flanking him are 170cm England-born winger Tyrhys Dolan (24), a regular for five seasons at Blackburn Rovers, and Betis youth product Marcos Fernandez (23, 176cm). Small, mobile attackers running in behind a very tall Osasuna back line is exactly the contrast this fixture offers.
- The benches carry real weight too. Espanyol can call on Brazilian holding midfielder Gabriel Moscardo (20, 185cm), on loan from Paris Saint-Germain after 39 appearances for Braga last season, and Netherlands left-back Quilindschy Hartman (24), an Eredivisie champion with Feyenoord. Osasuna have 190cm anchor Lucas Torro (32), who played Bundesliga football with Eintracht Frankfurt, and left-footed French winger Del Castillo (30), a Lyon academy graduate with spells at Rennes and Brest.