Albacete 0 - Osasuna 2

Albacete: Roa; Oscar Montiel, Pablo, Siviero (Unai 55'), Peña; Viaud, Parri; Lawal, Basti (Pacheco 59'), Delporte; Amato (Cacá 75'). 4-2-3-1.
Osasuna: Sanzol; Izquierdo, Cruchaga, Josetxo, Antonio López; Puñal, Pablo García; Rivero (Alfredo 85'), Valdo (Iván Rosado 88'), Moha; Aloisi (Palacios 65'). 4-2-3-1.

Goals:
0-1. 43. Valdo. Got on the end of Antonio López free kick to score on far post.
0-2. 90. Puñal (penalty). After Peña fouled Iván Rosado in area.

Newly promoted Albacete have found out early on that life is tough in the top flight. A virtual capacity crowd watched them lose their opening game 0-2 to Osasuna, who last year only just avoided relegation themselves. Despite several new signings, manager César Ferrando kept faith with the block of players who won him promotion, only including Amato and Lawal (both second division players themselves last season) in his starting line up.

The old guard didn't put up a bad performance though in the first half, with Delporte a constant menace down the left wing, and Amato felt referee Daudén Ibáñez should have given him a hand when he was bundled away from the ball by Josetxo as he went to meet Peña's cross. But with four minutes to go to the interval, Valdo sneaked in on the blind side of the defence to meet Antonio López's free kick and poke the ball into the net.

Albacete kept on attacking after the interval, and Sanzol did well to save from Delporte and a few minutes later from substitute Pacheco. But in the last minute Daudén awarded a penalty to the visitors after Peña tripped Iván Rosado only a couple of minutes after he had come on, and Puñal tucked away the resulting penalty to wrap things up. For 24 hours at least, Osasuna are top of the table for the first time in their history. That leaves Albacete in last place for now, but they have a whole season ahead of them to get it right.