Osasuna looked like being relegated from the very start of the campaign and the fact that they finished 19th can in some ways be seen as an overachievement. They were bottom for 24 of the 38 weeks of the season, including from February to May, but they ultimately managed to move above Granada at the end of the season to avoid the wooden spoon. Survival was never realistic for this team, who spent just two weeks – the first two – outside of the relegation zone all year. Part of the reason for Osasuna’s limp sliding out of the division was that they were the least prepared for it, having won promotion from the second division play-offs the summer before. Not only does that mean that they were the lowest-ranked team to feature in this year’s La Liga, but the fact that those play-offs go on until the end of June means that it is always difficult for the team which earns promotion by that means to build a first-tier squad in time for the start of the season. Not only, then, did Osasuna have a limited squad to begin with, but they also suffered an injury crisis, the likes of which few clubs will ever experience in a season. They had the most injuries of any La Liga team by far and the final weeks of the season saw several youth teamers called up to make up the numbers.
In terms of coaching, Enrique Martin was quite cruelly sacked 11 games in, his reward for having won a promotion which Osasuna probably overachieved in securing. Joaquin Caparros came in for five games, but that experiment quickly failed and sporting director Petar Vasiljevic took over for his first experience of coaching a professional senior team. As expected, he couldn’t save Osasuna.
