Real Madrid's Nightmare from the Past

PAMPLONA, SUNDAY — After 15 years, Real Madrid finally experienced their first defeat at the home of Osasuna, El Sadar Stadium, Pamplona. This nightmare from the past occurred at a time when "Los Blancos" needed full points to distance themselves from the pursuit of Barcelona.

Starting the match with greater dominance, Real ultimately returned home empty-handed after losing 1-2. This result reminds Real supporters of a similar narrow defeat 15 years ago at El Sadar Stadium. At that time, Real lost 0-1 and ended the season in second place in the final standings, below Barca, who became champions. No trophies were won by Real that season.

"Nobody likes to lose, especially us. It's going to be a long season, and I think there's still a lot to catch up on. We lacked rhythm in the first half, and that's what we were missing," said Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa in a post-match press conference, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo, Sunday (22/2/2026) early morning WIB.

Throughout the years, El Sadar Stadium has consistently been a venue that tends to be friendly to Real. Since their last defeat at El Sadar in the 2010-2011 season, Real has achieved a total of seven victories and four draws there. For this reason, the visit to El Sadar seems to provide a guarantee for Real to widen the gap with Barca to five points.

However, what happened on the field was not in line with initial expectations. Osasuna, playing in an organized manner, was able to dampen Real's aggressiveness from the start of the match.

Osasuna was even able to threaten several times through counterattacks, one of which was a left-footed shot opportunity by Ante Budimir that narrowly missed Thibaut Courtois' goal.

In general, Osasuna's attacking efforts began from the left side of Real's defense, guarded by Alvaro Carreras. They took advantage of Vinicius Junior's reluctance to assist in defense, causing Carreras and Eduardo Camavinga to struggle to fend off the opponent's attacks.

Budimir became the player who posed the greatest threat to Real's goal. The Croatian passport-holding forward nearly gave Osasuna the lead with his header that struck the goalpost.

Real Madrid's left side of the defense was the beginning of disaster when Osasuna's first goal came from Budimir's penalty. After escaping David Alaba's marker, Budimir's maneuver was stopped by Courtois. Referee Alejandro Gonzalez initially showed Budimir a yellow card for diving.

However, after a review of the video assistant referee (VAR), the penalty against Budimir was revoked. Gonzalez revised his decision and subsequently awarded a penalty, which was successfully converted into a goal by Budimir.

"There were several very fair referee decisions that benefited them. However, we have not yet shown our best performance. Playing from Wednesday to Sunday is not an easy task. We know that Real Madrid always has to perform at its best," said Arbeloa.

In this match, Arbeloa surprised many by changing Real's backline from the Champions League round of 16 playoff against Benfica. He rested Dean Huijsen, Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Antonio Ruediger.

The central defense duo is filled by Raul Asencio and David Alaba. Meanwhile, Arbeloa's decision to play Dani Carvajal in place of Trent is quite interesting. Carvajal had previously complained about the lack of playing time this season. In the attacking line, Arbeloa played Kylian Mbappe, who has not fully recovered from issues with his left knee.

The decision to start Mbappé didn't prove effective. Mbappé wasn't particularly sharp, only managing two shots, one of which was on target but was ruled out for offside. Otherwise, Mbappé contributed little, registering just four touches in the Osasuna penalty area.

At a time when Mbappe was underperforming, Vinicius Junior led the attack for Real. The Brazilian winger showcased his sharpness by scoring the equalizing goal in the 73rd minute, successfully capitalizing on a cross from Federico Valverde.

Vinicius's goal made the match more intense. With the remaining time dwindling, even the smallest mistake could change the final outcome of the game.

Ultimately, the mistake was made by Real. Dani Ceballos's short pass could not be reached by Asencio. The ball was seized by Raul Moro, who, with a few touches, directly set it up for Garcia to convert into a goal.

From there, a huge celebration began at El Sadar. Osasuna fans roared in celebration of a rare victory in 15 years.

"My goal was a play I've done often. I scored a few like that in Division Two. I saw the defender coming fast, I knew he was going to fall, I kept my cool, cut inside, and I scored," Garcia said, as quoted by DAZN.

This defeat is very likely to shake Real's position at the top of the standings. Barca will certainly take advantage of this momentum to defeat Levante and once again overthrow Real. Arbeloa hopes that this minor result will not affect the confidence of his players ahead of hosting Benfica next week.