Osasuna 0 - Alavés 1

Osasuna: Sanzol; Cruchaga, Contreras, Josetxo (Rivero 80'); Yanguas, Puñal, Fernando; Palacios (Muñoz 60'), Iván Rosado (Sabino 67'), Gancedo; Aloisi. 3-3-3-1.
Alavés: Herrera; Geli, Karmona, Téllez, Llorens; Pablo (Witschge 73'), Turiel; Astudillo, Jordi Cruyff, Ibon Begoña; Rubén Navarro (Iván Alonso 63'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Osasuna: Sanzol, Puñal, Aloisi for Unzué, Jusué, Alfredo / Alavés: Karmona, Pablo, Jordi Cruyff, Rubén Navarro for Coloccini, Witschge, Magno, Iván Alonso.

Goals:
0-1. 37. Karmona. Header home corner by Ibon Begoña from left of goal.

Alavés are back in Europe! Mané's side have worked another minor miracle and ousted all their bigger rivals to return to the UEFA cup where they had their greatest success two seasons ago. To many it was no surprise though, as their last game was against their friends and neighbours Osasuna, who had assured their place in the first division the week before and had little to play for. The Basque sides have a reputation for helping each other out when it comes to the crunch, although Osasuna manager Miguel Angel Lotina strongly denied this and told press he was due to earn a 30,000 Euros bonus for a victory. Lotina was in charge for the last time having announced he will be leaving in the summer, and he put out a competitive side, albeit giving his number two keeper Sanzol a run out in the place of Unzué. Mané had to bring in Karmona to replace Coloccini, who failed a late fitness test, but he could count on the now fit Jordi Cruyff and Rubén Navarro, and Pablo returned after a one match ban.

Alavés started the day with a one point advantage over Sevilla, Málaga and Athletic Bilbao, and therefore needed a win to be sure of keeping seventh spot. There was no room for any margin of error therefore, and Mané sent his players forward right from the kick off. If there was anything to the rumours though, nobody had told Sanzol, Aloisi and Gancedo. The keeper pulled off two or three fine saves, in particular from an unfortunate Rubén Navarro who could have scored a hat-full before the break, and the two foreigners both had shots blocked on the line by a desperate defence. Then a few minutes before half time the visiting captain Karmona decided to take matters into his own hands, and he finally beat Sanzol with a powerful header following Ibon Begoña's corner. The second half was a wave of red shirts as Lotina started to see his win bonus disappearing, but the Alavés defence held fast, knowing that the results coming in from the other grounds meant that a victory was essential. The crowd were happy with that though, and even cheered on the visitors towards the end. No wonder Lotina wants to leave!