Deportivo La Coruña 2-1 Osasuna: Bil Nsongo's late winner ends a five-game slide

Deportivo La Coruña finally ended their long wait for a win, coming from behind to beat Osasuna 2-1 at Riazor. Ante Budimir had given the visitors a first-half lead, Mario Soriano levelled with a direct free kick early in the second half, and Bil Nsongo settled it three minutes from time after twice being denied by the Osasuna goalkeeper earlier in the match.

Osasuna took the lead in the 32nd minute, Budimir finishing from the centre of the area after Moi Gómez had picked him out. Deportivo were level inside the hour, Mario Soriano curling a direct free kick low past the Osasuna goalkeeper, his effort arriving after a foul on Luismi Cruz just outside the box.

Nsongo's night

Bil Nsongo was the home side's biggest threat all evening, forcing saves with two separate headed efforts before finally getting his reward. With three minutes to go, he drove a low shot in from close range to complete the turnaround. It was the goal that finally turned a dominant home performance — 62% possession, 18 shots to Osasuna's 11 — into three points.

Osasuna's response to going behind was to pick up cards rather than chances: four yellow cards across the half hour either side of Deportivo's equaliser, for Moi Gómez, Alejandro Catena, Abel Bretones and Enrique Barja, as the visitors grew increasingly stretched chasing the game back.

Match facts

• 32' — Ante Budimir (Osasuna), assisted by Moi Gómez
• 64' — Mario Soriano (Deportivo), direct free kick
• 87' — Bil Nsongo (Deportivo)

Line-ups

• Deportivo (4-2-3-1): Leo Román; Giménez, Loureiro, Quagliata, Altimira; Cruz, Amatucci; Soriano, Nsongo, Hernández; Mella
• Osasuna (4-3-3): Herrera; Boyomo, Catena, Bretones, Rosier; Muñoz, Gómez, Moncayola; Budimir, Moro, Dubasin

A run that badly needed breaking

This was Deportivo's first win in six league matches, a run that had produced three defeats and three draws and left them sliding down the table after a promising start to the season. Osasuna arrived on the back of a defeat to Sevilla and a heavy loss to Real Betis among their last five, a run with only one win in it, and the fact that they still took the lead here only to lose will sting given how thin the margins are near the relegation zone.

What's next

The win lifts Deportivo La Coruña from 13th to 8th on 14 points, jumping clear of the congested group of five clubs still stuck on 12. Osasuna stay on 11 points and 15th, their goal difference worsening to -11 as they continue to concede at a rate — 22 goals in 11 games — that leaves them looking anxiously over their shoulder at the bottom three.