How to Survive a Miracle – Osasuna, a Rare Bird and a River That Doesn’t Rise

Over the last decade, Osasuna have been from the gates of the inferno to threshold of football heaven. Mere minutes away from probable dissolution, a €50m debt saddled to their backs, only a 96^th minute header salvaged Los Rojillo from relegation to the third tier in 2014. Nine years later, they were in a Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid. Even before the final, it was something of a miracle just to be back in La Liga. When they made the film, not a single second of football was shown due to La Liga TV rights. For 15 days in 2019 it sold more tickets in Pamplona than Robert de Niro’s The Irishman, Charlie’s Angels and The Two Popes – they had their own fixers, their own superheroes and their own creed.

Long-time General Director Fran Canal calls the people that took them to that point ‘delinquents’, and the five years that succeeded that film as the happiest period of his life. The way in which it is talked about, at times you could delude yourself into thinking defeat in the Copa final was but an anecdotal detail in the celebration of Osasuna, which means health in Basque. The goal, a cascade of Navarrese noise, is still played as a happy memory. Canal doesn’t miss the chance to point out that Osasuna had more fans in Seville than Real Madrid. In a scarce stroke of justice, Ante Budimir’s brace against Girona on the final day of the season would earn them the final European spot.

¡¡¡GOOOOL DE OSASUNA!!! ¡¡¡EMPATA TORRÓ!!!

¡¡Menudo chutazo desde fuera del área!! @LucasTorro le pega con alma desde la frontal para igualar la final.

@realmadrid