On a cool La Liga night at Estadio Mendizorrotza, a 2-2 draw between Alaves and Osasuna felt less like a mid-table dead rubber and more like a clash of conflicting identities trying to drag their seasons in opposite directions.
Alaves, 15th with 32 points after 30 matches, are built on narrow margins. Their season profile is modest: 32 goals scored and 43 conceded, around 1.1 for and 1.4 against per game. At home, though, they are stubborn—19 goals scored and 18 conceded in 15 outings, a profile of a side that grinds rather than overwhelms. Osasuna arrive from a different angle: 9th with 38 points, more expansive in Pamplona (25 home goals) but far more fragile on the road, with just 11 scored and 21 conceded across 16 away fixtures.
That tension was written into the lineups. Alaves went with their most-used 4-4-2, a shape they have turned to 16 times this campaign, leaning into structure and verticality. Antonio Sivera anchored a back four of Jonny Otto, Nahuel Tenaglia, Víctor Parada and Youssef Enriquez Lekhedim. In front, a compact midfield square—Ángel Pérez, Pablo Ibáñez, Antonio Blanco and Jon Guridi—was tasked with feeding the front two of Toni Martínez and Ibrahim Diabaté.
Osasuna, meanwhile, reverted to their default 4-2-3-1, the system that has underpinned 15 of their league matches. Sergio Herrera stood behind a back line of Valentin Rosier, Alejandro Catena, Flavien Boyomo and Javi Galán. Jon Moncayola and Lucas Torró formed a double pivot, with an attacking trio of Rubén García, Aimar Oroz and Kike Barja operating behind Ante Budimir, one of La Liga’s most productive centre-forwards this season.
The absences shaped the tactical voids. Alaves were without F. Garces (suspended), C. Protesoni (muscle injury) and D. Suarez (suspended for yellow cards). For a squad that already walks a disciplinary tightrope—heavy yellow-card clusters between 31-45', 61-75' and especially 76-90' plus 91-105'—losing D. Suarez’s experience in midfield forced more responsibility onto Blanco and Ibáñez to both circulate and protect. It nudged Alaves further toward pragmatism: fewer creative touches from deep, more reliance on direct balls into Martínez and Diabaté and on second balls around the box.
Osasuna’s only listed absentee, I. Benito with a knee injury, was less structurally disruptive but still notable in terms of rotation. With Benito out, Jagoba Arrasate (even if unnamed in the data, his blueprint is clear) leaned harder on the established core of Rubén García and Oroz as creative hubs. That meant higher minutes for key card magnets as well. Osasuna’s yellow cards spike between 31-45', 61-75' and especially 76-90', and their red-card record—Catena and Abel Bretones both on the season’s top list—reinforces how close they often operate to the disciplinary edge.
Within that framework, the “Hunter vs. Shield” storyline was always going to run through Budimir. The Croatian, ranked 3rd in La Liga’s scoring charts with 15 goals, is a penalty-box specialist who lives off timing and physical duels. He arrived having taken 68 shots, 30 on target, and with 5 penalties scored but 1 missed—evidence of volume and responsibility, not flawless execution. Against an Alaves defence that concedes 1.2 goals per game at home, his battle with Parada and Tenaglia was the central axis of Osasuna’s attacking plan.
Parada, one of the league’s more card-prone defenders with 7 yellows and a yellow-red this season, is aggressive in contact and willing to step out to block—he has deflected 6 opponent attempts. That front-foot style is double-edged against a striker like Budimir: it can disrupt Osasuna’s rhythm, but one mistimed challenge in the box risks handing the Croatian another look from the spot.
If Budimir is the Hunter, Osasuna’s Shield is built around Catena. The centre-back is among the league’s most active defenders: 25 opponent shots blocked, 30 interceptions, 208 duels contested with 112 won. He is also one of La Liga’s leading collectors of cards with 9 yellows and a red. His remit here was clear—manage the aerial and physical chaos generated by Toni Martínez and, later, Lucas Boyé.
Martínez, with 8 goals and 3 assists so far, is Alaves’ all-action forward: 59 shots, 25 on target, 393 duels with more than half won. He thrives in attritional games, chasing long diagonals and pinning centre-backs. Boyé, off the bench, offers a different threat profile. With 10 goals and 1 assist, plus 23 key passes and a strong dribbling output (37 successful dribbles from 73 attempts), he is both finisher and connector. Crucially, Boyé is flawless from the spot this season—3 penalties scored from 3, no misses—so any defensive lapse from Catena or Boyomo inside the area becomes even more dangerous.
The engine-room duel was just as decisive. For Osasuna, Moncayola and Torró form a physically imposing double pivot. Moncayola brings line-breaking passing—32 key passes this campaign—and bite in the challenge, with 40 tackles and 8 yellows. Torró, less prominent in the league-wide disciplinary tables, is still the primary screen in front of Catena, reading second balls and protecting the half-spaces.
They were confronted by Blanco and Ibáñez, with Guridi tucking in from the flank to create overloads. Blanco’s job was to dictate tempo in a side that averages only 1.1 goals per game; his distribution had to be crisp enough to get Alaves up the pitch without exposing their own back four. Guridi, operating between lines, became the pressure valve—dropping in to help progress play, then arriving late in the box to attack second phases.
On the flanks, Ángel Pérez and Kike Barja gave the match its width and transitional threat. Pérez, from the right of Alaves’ midfield, was tasked with pinning Javi Galán back and forcing Osasuna’s full-backs to think twice before joining attacks. Barja, by contrast, is one of Osasuna’s primary outlets in transition, stretching the pitch to open pockets for Oroz and Rubén García.
Rubén García himself remains Osasuna’s creative metronome. Ranked 18th in the league for rating, he has 5 assists, 33 key passes and a passing accuracy of 79%. His ability to drift inside from the right and combine with Oroz between the lines is central to Osasuna’s chance creation. Against an Alaves side that has kept only 2 home clean sheets so far this campaign, his service into Budimir was always likely to dictate the quality of Osasuna’s chances.
From the bench, the game-changer vector tilted slightly toward Alaves. Boyé is an elite-impact option; Mariano Díaz offers penalty-box instincts; Carles Aleñá can add technical control and progressive passing if the match tilts into a midfield battle. Osasuna’s bench is deeper in defensive and wide options—Abel Bretones, Juan Cruz, Raúl Moro—but their most like-for-like striking alternative, Raúl García de Haro, does not match Budimir’s current production.
Statistically, the 2-2 scoreline fits the broader patterns. Alaves’ home games tend to be tight, but their late-game discipline issues—yellow cards surging between 76-90' and 91-105'—often invite pressure. Osasuna, for their part, are a different team away from Pamplona: they score just 0.7 goals per away match but still concede 1.3, a profile of a side that can be opened up when they chase results.
The deciding factor on the night, and in any tactical prognosis of this matchup, lies in those final 15 minutes plus stoppage time. Both sides accumulate cards heavily in that window; both concede concentration. For Alaves, who have a flawless penalty record this season (6 scored from 6), any late incursion into the box can be decisive. For Osasuna, Budimir’s presence ensures that even a half-chance can be turned into a goal.
In the end, the draw preserves the logic of the table: Osasuna remain the more polished, higher-ceiling side, but their away fragility keeps them tethered to the pack. Alaves, meanwhile, continue to live on the edge—defensively honest, tactically disciplined, but reliant on the individual punch of Martínez and Boyé to tilt matches that their underlying numbers suggest should be tighter than their league position implies.
