Real Madrid 1 - Osasuna 0

Madrid: Casillas; Mejía, Iván Helguera, Raúl Bravo, Roberto Carlos; Beckham, Celades; Figo, Raúl (Jotha 88'), Solari (Morientes 12'); Ronaldo (Owen 81'). 4-2-3-1.
Osasuna: Sanzol; Expósito, Cuéllar (Miguel Flaño 75'), Josetxo, Corrales; Valdo (Muñoz 62'), Puñal (Ortíz 67'), Pablo García, Moha (Delporte 72'); Aloisi, Milosevic. 4-4-2.

Team changes: Madrid: Casillas, Mejía, Raúl Bravo, Beckham, Figo, Raúl for César, Salgado, Pavón, Samuel, Juanfran, Owen / Osasuna: Valdo for Ortíz.

Goals:
1-0. 61. Beckham. Bent thirty metre free kick over wall and wide of Sanzol.

A winning start for new manager Mariano García Remón, although once again Real Madrid did not look to be at their best and they struggled to beat a battling Osasuna by a single goal. The assistant coach took over only yesterday after Camacho threw in the towel, and he had little time to do anything but name the best line up he could muster, with Salgado, Samuel and Guti suspended and Zidane and César out injured. And things got worse only ten minutes in to the match when Solari was carried off with what looked like a bad injury, and Morientes came on to push Raúl out to the left wing. Osasuna had been Madrid's bogey side at the Bernabeu in recent years, but they had clearly come here this time looking for a draw.

A stony defence kept the locals at bay until around the half hour mark, when Raúl curled a shot against the upright and Celades struck a spectacular long volley seconds later which had Sanzol at full stretch. Morientes could have given his side the lead just before the break though had the keeper not been on his best form.

The crowd had given the players a hard time when they came out on to the pitch after their last two defeats, but they gradually warmed up as Ronaldo turned Raúl's cross just past the post. And on the hour mark Beckham got the only goal of the game with his second match-winning free kick in successive games at the Bernabeu, a curling effort from thirty yards out with left Sanzol scrambling to get across.

The visitors had not even managed a shot at goal up to that point, but they did give the home fans a scare in the final minutes, especially from an Aloisi effort which Casillas had to turn round the corner. But Madrid had tied up the three points with their third single goal victory in four games, and despite the "crisis" they move to the top of the table pending the other midweek games.