Today is the beginning of a new year and a new decade for everyone. A new year is always a time for hope, dreams and resolutions to fulfill along the months.
And this is my will for Osasuna too, of course. One of the reasons for me to create this blog was to use it as a way to follow our team, Osasuna, and spread their victories around the world.
In my 40 years of life I've lived different periods of Osasuna history. First, I must say I've always been a F.C. Barcelona fan since Cruyff's time, as I used to go out with his second number shirt -9-( remember 14 was the most popular for him ). I could say most of the players in Barça at that 74-79 period time, but I can remember the goalkeepers Sadurní or Artola, defenders like Migueli,midfielders like Asensi or Rexach and, of course, the leader Johan Cruyff.
We can't reach that level, definitely, and if we compare with Barça, we can never reach their glories from 20th May 1992, when they got their first European Cup ( now Champions League ) up to 19th December 2009, when they finally reached the top of fame, as they became the best team in the world when they got their sixth final cup in a season ( Copa del Rey, Liga, Champions, Spanish Supercup, European Supercup, and finally the World Club Cup ).
But I started to follow Osasuna when I was 11, the first season was 1980-81 after they were promoted to first division when they won in a historic match against Murcia. Then, the first landmark in Europe was in 1985 when they reached the UEFA Cup
. From those years all Osasuna supporters can say a myth team: Vicuña, Macua, Mina, Castañeda, Lecumberri, Lumbreras, Rípodas, Iriarte, Ecbeverria, lriguibel and Martín. Those years were my teen years and I used to go to El Sadar every two weeks and see all the home matches; even when I became 18 years old and I was no longer a teenager for ticket officers I managed to enter at a relative cheap price.
It was at the earlies 90's when I definitely devoted my football support to Osasuna when players got historic landmarks like the victory at Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid (0-4) on 30th December 1990. It was the best present for the end of that year and the Polish striker Jan Urban was the local hero. Osasuna went back to Europe in the season 91-92 and the team which took Osasuna off the competitionn became champion that year: Ajax, a famous but undervalued team now that had footballers like Van Basten or a later famous coach at Barça, Rychkkard.
P.D.: As I didn't get the video of that 0-4, there is another one below.
The worst years of Osasuna at 90's were the best for me, personally talking, as I was studying abroad and got my degree at university. It was, then, even more critical for me as an Osasuna supporter because I couldn't give my support as close as I wanted, but I could spread my support in England and many people in Coventry,Birmingham and the Black Country now know the name of Osasuna.
Once I was back in Pamplona, Osasuna was back to First Division too. I remember I was in Salamanca visiting some friends there and I saw how Osasuna was promoted to First Division against Recreativo de Huelva in the last match of season. Then, Osasuna went into the third millenium, the year 2000, in first division and got good results, but Osasuna suffered to keep in the best League of Europe.
However, the most remarkable achievement those years was reaching the Spanish Cup Final for the first time ever. Against Real Betis, on June 11th 2005 at the Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid, Osasuna played the Final incessantly encouraged by 20,000 passionate noisy “red” supporters, who travelled to Madrid from all over Navarra and from different parts of Spain. Oliveira for Betis and Australian striker John Aloisi for Osasuna scored during the first 90 minutes, and Betis scored their second and Cup-defining goal five minutes before the end of the extra time, which left Osasuna as the Cup runner-up on its first final ever, and granted them with a spot to play Uefa Cup the following year.
So far, the final episode of a team well settled within the Spanish football elite took place during the 2005-06 season. Despite the short participation in the Uefa Cup, where Osasuna was knocked out on the first round by the French side of Stade Rennais, the “rojillos” accomplished a superb performance in the Spanish League, leading the table for several weeks and playing a high-level football throughout the whole year. Osasuna reached its best league position ever ending up fourth, just behind F.C. Barcelona (League Champion), Real Madrid and Valencia CF. This impressive fourth spot granted Osasuna with the great reward of playing the Champions League Preliminary Round, taking thus part in the best competition of European football.
The following season (2006-2007), after being knocked out of Champions League by German side Hamburg, the club took part brilliantly in the Uefa Cup, leaving behind powerful European teams such as Parma, Girondins Bordeaux, Glasgow Rangers or former Champions League runners-up Bayern Leverkusen, only to be left out of the Final dream after losing to the future Cup holders Sevilla FC in the semi-finals.
It's time to dream again. We're in 2010 and new players and a new coach must give good news to Osasuna supportes. It's imposible to reach levels as Guardiola's Barça, but all of us have a desire for this year: another final at La Copa del Rey. It's a perfect year as very good teams like Real Madrid and Athletic are off, and for next legs there are direct confrontations between posible winners like Barça-Sevilla. Let time give an answer, but dreaming is free.
Gora Osasuna! Aupa Rojillos! Happy New Year 2010, to all of you!
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