Leaders Real Madrid stung at Osasuna, Atletico back on track

2026-02-22 - 09:33

Raul Garcia’s superb 90th-minute strike consigned leaders Real Madrid to a 2-1 defeat at Osasuna in La Liga on Saturday, in a blow to their title hopes. Champions Barcelona trail Madrid by two points but can overtake them on Sunday if they beat Levante at Camp Nou. Elsewhere, Atletico Madrid, fourth, got back to winning ways with an entertaining 4-2 victory over Espanyol. Alvaro Arbeloa’s Real Madrid put on a below-par performance in Pamplona and fell behind to an Ante Budimir penalty, before Vinicius Junior pulled the visitors level. The second leg of Madrid’s Champions League play-off against Jose Mourinho’s Benfica on Wednesday seemed to play on their minds as they failed to kick on at El Sadar. Vinicius, who scored a sensational goal to give Madrid a slender first-leg lead but was then the victim of alleged racial abuse, thought he had earned his team a point before Garcia blasted home the winner. “It was not a good game from us... we have to play a lot better,” Arbeloa told reporters. “We had control at some points but we lacked speed in our play... on Wednesday we have another final, another game that is very important for us.” Croatian target man Budimir forced a good save from Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and hit