Some afternoons refuse to sit still, and Mendizorrotza delivered one of them. Alavés swept Osasuna aside 5-2 in a match that swung, snapped and finally broke open, driven by a Lucas Boyé hat-trick that carried the hosts to the very edge of the La Liga summit. Twice Osasuna hauled themselves back into contention. Twice they were slapped down harder than before.

This was not a smash-and-grab or a fortunate day at the office. It was a statement of intent from a side that has now taken ten points from its opening four fixtures, and it announced Alavés as genuine early-season contenders. By the time Pablo Ibáñez nodded in the fifth in the dying seconds, the stands were roaring and the visitors were reduced to spectators of their own undoing.

For Osasuna, it was a chastening lesson in the difference between resilience and reward. Ante Budimir gave them two moments of hope, both dispatched with the confidence of a striker in form. Neither was enough. Every time they clawed a foothold, Alavés answered with a goal that punctured the belief all over again.

Boyé sets the tone

The pattern was established early, and it belonged to Boyé. On 27 minutes the Argentine collected possession outside the box and drilled a right-footed strike into the bottom-left corner, teed up by a clever headed pass from Mariano Díaz. It was a goal of composure and precision, and it set the template for what was to come.

Nine minutes later the roles reversed. This time it was Mariano Díaz who found the same corner from distance, his right-footed effort curling beyond reach after Antonio Sivera's contribution from the back. Two goals to the good inside 36 minutes, both struck from outside the area, and Alavés looked utterly in command as the interval approached.

There was a swagger to the home side's play, a sense that the passing had a purpose and the finishing an edge. Osasuna, by contrast, were struggling to lay a glove on a game that was quietly slipping away from them. The half-time whistle could not come quickly enough for the visitors.

Osasuna refuse to fold

Whatever was said in the away dressing room worked, at least momentarily. Straight from the restart, on 46 minutes, Budimir rose to meet a Moi Gómez cross and glanced a header into the top-left corner. Suddenly it was 2-1, and the contest had a pulse again.

The response from Alavés was emphatic and immediate. On 51 minutes Boyé struck once more, this time finding the top-right corner from outside the box after Carles Aleñá threaded the opening. It was a finish of real quality, and it restored the two-goal cushion barely five minutes after Osasuna had cut it.

Still the visitors would not lie down. On 64 minutes Budimir stepped up from the penalty spot and rolled a left-footed effort into the bottom-left corner for his second of the afternoon, making it 3-2 and threatening a grandstand finish. For a few tense minutes, Mendizorrotza held its breath, wondering whether the lead might yet evaporate entirely.

The rout is completed

It did not. Four minutes after Budimir's penalty, Boyé completed his hat-trick in the most decisive fashion, meeting an Ángel Pérez cross with a header into the top-left corner to make it 4-2. It was the goal that finally broke Osasuna's spirit, arriving just as they had begun to believe. Three goals, three different types of finish, one utterly ruthless afternoon.

From there the outcome was never in doubt, and the hosts were content to see the game out before adding a flourish. Deep into stoppage time, Ángel Pérez turned provider again, his cross converted from very close range by Pablo Ibáñez, who headed into the bottom-left corner for the fifth. It was a fitting final flourish to a display brimming with attacking ambition.

Pérez's two assists in the closing quarter underlined how Alavés had simply overwhelmed their opponents in the final third. Every cross seemed to find a head, every half-chance a finisher. Osasuna's back line, so briefly resurgent, was picked apart at will as the contest ran away from them.

What it means

The result lifts Alavés to second in La Liga on ten points, their unbeaten record intact after three wins and a draw. Ten goals scored and only three conceded speaks to a side that carries a threat at one end while remaining largely solid at the other, and this performance suggested there is more to come. Sitting a single point off the summit, they have given their supporters every reason for optimism.

For Osasuna, the picture is more sobering. Seventh on seven points, with two wins, a draw and now a defeat, they remain in respectable early-season shape but have work to do at the back. Six goals conceded in four matches is a total that will trouble them, and five of those arrived in a single, punishing afternoon. Budimir's brace at least offered a glimpse of the firepower they can call upon.

The margins in these opening weeks are fine, and the table remains tightly bunched behind the leaders. Alavés will travel with confidence and a spring in their step, buoyed by a forward line clicking into gear. Osasuna, meanwhile, must regroup quickly and shore up a defence that was exposed too often at Mendizorrotza. On this evidence, the pace-setters have found a formidable new companion near the top.