For David García, the first rojillo called up to the Spanish team in 12 years, what landed in Seville this Saturday was not a team, not even a city, but a town called by history: achieving Osasuna’s first title. “As good Navarrese, we are not afraid of anything or anyone that comes our way,” proclaimed the Navarrese captain, inflamed by the event and the San Fermin crowd that crossed the peninsula from top to bottom and that for much of the weekend week made it doubtful if a Cup final was going to be played in the Andalusian capital or if the chupinazo had been brought forward. Perhaps, because for that town to which David García appealed, every festive event ends up summing up in the streets, beer and Riau-Riauthe march that opened the night in the Navarrese stands, which had previously whistled the Spanish anthem in a majority.
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Courtois, Eder Militao, Alaba, Camavinga, Dani Carvajal, Aurelien Tchouameni (Rüdiger, min. 69), Federico Valverde, Kroos (Modric, min. 81), Benzema, Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo (Marco Asensio, min. 89)
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Herrera, Jon Moncayola, Aridane, Juan Cruz, David García, Rubén Peña (Rubén García, min. 75), Abde (Kike Barja, min. 75), Aimar Oroz, Moi Gómez (Kike García, min. 86), Lucas Torró (Pablo Ibáñez, min. 86) and Ante Budimir (Chimy Ávila, min. 69)
goals 1-0 min. 2: Rodrigo. 1-1 min. 57: Lucas Torro. 2-1 min. 70: Rodrigo.
Referee Jose Maria Sanchez Martinez
Yellow cards Jon Moncayola (min. 21), David García (min. 37), Eder Militao (min. 40), Vinicius Junior (min. 44), Camavinga (min. 74), Kike Barja (min. 83), Federico Valverde ( min. 89), Courtois (min. 93) and Pablo Ibáñez (min. 94)
When Osasuna announced a year and a half ago the kilometric renewal of youth squad Jon Moncayola (until 2031), he also appealed to the “resistance” of the fans: “We are going to stand up. We are going to fight for what is ours and this time we are going to enjoy it in a big way”. The Sevillian night of the midfielder, this time located as a right back, started, however, with a good dose of suffering. On that shore, Vinicius’ centrifuge was waiting for him, who never misses his appointment to be in everything, dribbles and scuffles. The first thing he recorded before minute two, when he sent Moncayola to the canvas and cooked Rodrygo’s 1-0. The second did not take long to appear either.
The suffering was continuous throughout the first part for the boy from the Valdorba valley, 20 minutes from Pamplona, so in the intermission the people’s resistance had to be called again. “These fans never give up,” he sounded over the public address system during the break, which they had reached with Madrid’s short lead as the best balm.
They clung to that and, from there, they found a crack through which to overwhelm their rival. One day before the final, Osasuna started his training with an exercise that was as rustic as it was profitable. The forwards went down to receive, unloaded a band and attacked the lateral center. For that, for example, Budimir started at the start, despite the meager four goals he had scored this season. That was the almost unique menu of the rojillo team for most of the night, except for the one that Abde had in the first part due to another Militão concession. And out of that flurry of crosses came the other part of the plan: second plays. The ball fell to Lucas Torró on the front, who tuned it down with a powerful and adjusted shot. The madness in the red bottom, who ended up tearing down one of the fences in the celebration while the scorer lacked a stadium to run, possessed by the success. “We have to be proud. We have competed to the end, we have done it for our people. That goal at the beginning has conditioned us a lot, but we have not given up. It is very special to play a Cup final against Madrid, ”he commented at the end of the night.
Lucas Torró is a good example of a footballer cradled in Valdebebas with whom Madrid made cash. He had already played in Osasuna in the 2017-18 campaign, where he arrived from Castilla (he never made his debut with the first team) and, the following summer, the white club carried out one of its classic cash register operations with the boys from the sports city: He bought it for 1.75 million and, after four days, sold it for 3.5 to Eintracht. It wasn’t much profit, but in the merengue house they learned a long time ago that grain by grain you can also make a lot of granary. There are few youngsters who settle in the Bernabéu dressing room, but cases like Torró’s abound.
The German adventure, however, was a physical ordeal for the man from Alicante, who barely had a clue due to injuries. So in 2020, Osasuna, a club of certainties and few adventures when it focuses the plan well, bought it back for two million and, since then, Arrasate made this 1.90-heavy pivot a fixture. This Saturday, the white splinter exercised its command in the center and threatened Madrid for a while, until Rodrygo stopped the flood in its tracks.
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