| First Division - Day 9 | |
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Osasuna 2 - Betis 0 Osasuna: Sanzol;
Izquierdo, Cruchaga, Mateo, Antonio López; Rivero (Muñoz 67'),
Alfredo, Puñal, Moha (Pinheiro 88'); Bakayoko (Palacios 77'), Aloisi.
4-4-2. Team changes: Osasuna: Rivero, Alfredo, Aloisi for Pablo García, Valdo, Webó / Betis: Melli, Luis Fernández, Arzu for Tais, Mingo, Denilson. Goals: Fourth placed Osasuna kept up their incredible start to the season, and even closed the gap a little on the top three with a 2-0 win over Betis. The Andalucians started the day only one place behind their opponents, and fancied their chances of overtaking them to move up to the Champions Leaguer spots. However they fell to two goals in the second half, and found themselves out of the European places once all games had been completed. Javier Aguirre had to watch the game from the stands following his sending off at the weekend, but his multinational strike force went close early on, Ivory Coast forward Bakayoko shooting just wide and Australia's Aloisi doing likewise soon afterwards. The visitors had their chances too in the first half though, with Tote looking dangerous and Sanzol saving from a Melli free kick just before the interval. Osasuna took the lead though five minutes after the restart when Moha took a return pass from Aloisi to steer a shot wide of Contreras. Víctor Fernández threw on Palermo to strengthen his attack, and Tote could have scored when he tried to make himself space to shoot in front of goal, Izquierdo finally closing him down. But Palacios could have scored at the other end, and Muñoz finally did after Aloisi played back a cross in from the left. The result takes the Pamplona based side to within four points of leaders Deportivo. Who would have bet on that at the start of the season? |
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