Osasuna 3 - Barcelona 1

Osasuna: Nuno; Yanguas, Cruchaga, Jusué, Iban Pérez; Alex Fernández, Lekumberri; Gerardo (Alfonso 91'), Gancedo, Angel Luis (Lorens 62'); Iván Rosado (Sabino 86'). 4-2-3-1.
Barcelona: Reina; Gabri (Simao 46'), Puyol, Cocu, Sergi; Xavi, Guardiola (De la Peña 46'); Luis Enrique, Rivaldo, Overmars; Kluivert (Dani 75'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Osasuna: Nuno, Lekumberri for Sanzol, Llorens / Barcelona: Puyol, Xavi, Luis Enrique for Reiziger, Frank De Boer, Simao.

Goals:
1-0. 20. Iván Rosado. From goal area after cross from Gancedo on right wing.
1-1. 22. Overmars. Ran on to long Reina clearance to round keeper and score.
2-1. 28. Alex Fernández. Directly from inswinging corner on left.
3-1. 84. Iván Rosado. Controlled ball close to goal and placed past keeper.

Barcelona manager Lorenzo Serra Ferrer lost his job after what was probably Barcelona's worst display of the season, losing to relegation candidates Osasuna and ending the match with only eight men. Serra Ferrer had to all effects been given an ultimatum by management to win this game after his team were eliminated from the UEFA cup semi-final by Liverpool on Thursday night, and having failed miserably he was replaced by caretaker manager, Carles Rexach, (previously a number two to Johann Cruyff), with ex central defender Alexanco as his assistant. Rexach takes over the reigns for the third time in his career, and is expected to be in charge until the end of the season when a new man is expected to take over (Cúper, Wenger, Koeman etc).

The last time that Barcelona lost at Pamplona Diego Maradona scored their goals, way back in 1984. However without a league victory since mid-January the team appeared to be lacking confidence, leaking goals like a sieve as Osasuna realised that the victory was there for the taking. With just over a quarter of an hour gone Osasuna scored somewhat against the run of play, the on form Iván Rosado finishing off after Gancedo headed on Lekumberri's corner. Earlier Rivaldo and Luis Enrique had gone close, and within two minutes they levelled the match through Overmars, who finally has started to score goals for his club. However that was about all Barcelona had to offer in the rest of the game, and they fell behind again when Reina completely misjudged a corner from the left, Alex Fernández's inswinging kick sailing over his head and in to the net.

At half time Serra Ferrer changed his side around. Missing the suspended Frank De Boer, Puyol had come in to the centre of defence, with Xavi and Guardiola starting the game together for the first time this season. Seeing that this wasn't working, he replaced a disanimated Guardiola with Iván De la Peña, bringing on an extra attacking player Simao for right back Gabri. Neither substitute was to finish the match. Lotina had emulated Barcelona's 4-2-3-1 system for this game having played with three central defenders for most of the season, and he was probably wondering why he hadn't tried it earlier. Lekumberri, Alex and Gancedo controlled the centre of the park, and Barcelona's frustrations finally got the better of them, Simao getting a direct red card from Megia Dávila for a two footed tackle on substitute Llorens only twenty minutes after coming on. A quarter of an hour from the end Serra Ferrer brought on Dani for Kluivert, who had picked up his fifth yellow card of the season earlier and who will miss the next game. But nothing changed, and after Iván Rosado had missed an easy chance in front of goal, he made up for it four minutes later beating Reina from close range for his twelfth of the season.

De la Peña joined Simao and company in a rapidly filling early bath after hacking Gancedo's feet from under him at the third attempt, and Sergi followed in injury time after he brought down Sabino from behind for his second yellow card. For any team in the first division it was a major disaster, but for a club as big as Barcelona it merited a day of local mourning, especially as their handball team had also lost the first leg of the European cup final against Portland San Antonio just down the road a couple of days ago. Club president Joan Gaspart had witnessed the debacle himself, deciding to travel to Pamplona at the last minute to watch the game, and he left the ground even more poe-faced than usual, his mind already made up about what he had to do in the next 24 hours. They have to try and get back in the Champions League spots by the end of the season to salvage something. Osasuna rise up to eighteenth, now only two points away from safety, and with teams such as Oviedo and Valladolid plummeting down the table their chances of survival are a little bit greater. San Fermín was watching over them today.