Osasuna 2 - Real Sociedad 3

Osasuna: Unzué; Yanguas, Cruchaga, Vidrio, Paqui (Aloisi 56'); Pablo García, Puñal; Rivero (Alfredo 70'), Gancedo, Antonio López; Iván Rosado. 4-2-3-1.
Real Sociedad: Westerveld; López Rekarte, Jauregi, Schürrer (Boris 83'), Aranzábal; Xabi Alonso, Aranburu; Karpin, Nihat, De Pedro (Gabilondo 75'); Kovacevic (Khokhlov 46'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Osasuna: Yanguas, Puñal for Mateo, Alfredo / Real: De Pedro for Gabilondo.

Goals:
0-1. 13. Nihat. Took Karpin pass and rounded keeper to score from wide angle.
1-1. 21. Puñal (penalty). After Puñal himself tripped by defender.
2-1. 48. Rivero. Beat keeper with low shot after Iván Rosado wide pass.
2-2. 50. Jauregi. Headed ball down into net from De Pedro corner.
2-3. 84. Khokhlov. Glancing header past keeper from Aranzábal cross.

Real Sociedad moved up to second in the league after winning their Basque derby at Osasuna. It was an exciting match with the lead changing hands twice before Khokhlov gave Reynald Denoueix's side victory with a late header. The on-form Nihat opened the scoring with a quarter of an hour gone, racing on to a Xabi Alonso through ball to run round the keeper on the right of the area and roll the ball in to the net from a wide angle.

Osasuna levelled soon afterwards though with a Puñal penalty after the midfielder himself was brought down by Jauregi, and went ahead just after the break when Rivero took Rosado's pass to beat Westerveld, drilling the ball home with the outside of his foot. But Jauregi headed an equaliser only two minutes later, making up for his penalty mistake with a well placed header from De Pedro's corner.

Basque teams have a habit of helping each other out when in trouble, and it appeared that they would settle for a point each. However this is a different Real Sociedad side, and they are changing the rules this season. Denoueix had surprisingly replaced his injured top scorer Kovacevic at the break with midfielder Khokhlov rather than a recognised striker, but he was vindicated when the Russian international popped up with five minutes to go to beat Unzué with an angled header. The defeat leaves Osasuna down in the bottom four with only a point to their name.