Sporting de Gijon 1 : 0 Osasuna - Gijon back up Madrid win with another victory

In-form Sporting Gijon followed up their stunning win over Real Madrid with a 1-0 victory against Osasuna that left the Asturian side within touching distance of Primera Division safety.

David Barral struck the only goal of the game midway through the second half following a bad defensive error as Sporting made it three successive 1-0 wins and 13 points from their last five games.

It also saw them climb up to 11th place in the standings - eight points clear of the relegation zone with only seven games remaining.

Sporting came into today's fixture having created one of the shocks of the season last weekend by beating Madrid away - ending the capital club's 25-match winning streak at the Bernabeu and ruining Jose Mourinho's nine-year run without losing a home league match as a coach.

Buoyed by that victory, Sporting started today's game on top and visiting goalkeeper Ricardo Lopez was called on to twice deny last weekend's match-winner at the Bernabeu, Miguel De Las Cuevas, as well as Barral.

Osasuna, who have been in good form themselves since Jose Luis Mendilibar took charge seven games ago, were not without their chances either before the break and Miguel Flano and Javier Camunas both saw efforts go just wide in a goalless first half.

The goal that decided the game arrived in the 66th minute, and is one that Osasuna defender Manuel Lolo will not want to see again.

Lolo thought he was allowing a through-ball to harmlessly go through to his goalkeeper, but he had not seen Barral steal in behind him and the Sporting striker took full advantage of the mistake by firing a low shot past Ricardo.

There was no way back for Osasuna after that, although Javad Nekounam perhaps should have done better with a free header from a corner as the Pamplona-based side remained on 35 points.