It was the cruellest of moments to concede and the sweetest to score. Deep into first-half stoppage time at El Sadar, Ante Budimir stepped up, planted his standing foot and swept a left-footed penalty into the bottom-left corner. One kick, one goal, and a Monday night in Pamplona tilted decisively Osasuna's way.

Getafe never found the reply. For all the second half offered, the visitors could not prise open a home side that has made its stadium a fortress once more, and the 1-0 scoreline held firm through to the final whistle. It was a result built on a single decisive act, and defended with the sort of stubbornness that has become an Osasuna trademark.

The win lifts Osasuna to fourth in La Liga on seven points, a return that speaks of a team quietly gathering momentum. For Getafe, a third defeat in four leaves them 14th and searching for the ruthlessness that has so far deserted them this season.

The decisive moment

Timing, in football, is everything, and Budimir's was immaculate. The penalty arrived at 45+2, the last meaningful action before the players trudged off for the interval, and there is no more deflating a time to fall behind. Getafe had presumably steeled themselves to reach the break level; instead they walked off chasing the game.

Budimir did not flinch. The finish was precise rather than powerful, guided low into the corner with his left foot, the goalkeeper sent the wrong way and the net rippling as El Sadar rose. For a striker who thrives on such moments, it was the kind of clinical execution that separates the promoted from the also-rans.

It was Osasuna's only goal of the night, but it was enough. Games are not always won by the more expansive side or the team with the greater share of the ball; sometimes they are settled by a single unerring swing of a boot. This was one of those evenings, and Budimir provided the swing.

Getafe's frustration

For Getafe, the visit to Navarre becomes another chapter in a stuttering start. Two defeats from their opening three had already flagged the difficulty, and this loss confirms the pattern: a side that has scored just once all season and shipped four. Goals, or the lack of them, are fast becoming the story of their campaign.

The manner of the defeat will gnaw at them. To concede a penalty on the very brink of half-time is to hand the opposition both a lead and a psychological cushion, and Getafe never managed to reclaim the initiative after the restart. They needed a moment of their own quality and could not summon it.

Fourteenth place on three points is no crisis this early, but it is a warning. The margins in La Liga are unforgiving, and a team that cannot find the net will keep finding itself on the wrong side of tight results like this one. Getafe must rediscover their edge quickly.

Osasuna's fortress

There is a growing sense that Osasuna are building something durable. Three goals scored and just one conceded across their opening fixtures tells of a side comfortable in its own skin, capable of winning ugly and defending a slender lead with discipline and nerve. This was a masterclass in exactly that.

The clean sheet mattered as much as the goal. Once ahead, Osasuna managed the game with the composure of a team that trusts its structure, refusing Getafe the space to build any late pressure into genuine threat. Two wins, a draw and no defeats is a record that any side in the division would take gladly.

El Sadar, as ever, played its part. The old ground remains one of the most awkward destinations in Spain, its intensity feeding into the players and gnawing at visitors. On nights like this, when a single goal is all that separates the sides, that atmosphere can be worth a point in itself.

The road ahead

For Osasuna, fourth place is reward for a start that has blended pragmatism with the odd flash of quality. Budimir's penalty was the difference here, but the foundations run deeper: a defence conceding rarely, a team that knows how to see out a lead, and a home ground that lifts them. The challenge now is to sustain it as the fixtures accumulate.

Getafe, meanwhile, must regroup with some urgency. One goal in three matches is a tally that no side can carry for long without paying the price in the table, and 14th is a position that demands a response rather than patience. The talent to climb is there; the cutting edge is what they must now locate.

One penalty, converted with cold certainty, decided everything on this Monday night. Osasuna march on into the top four with their eyes fixed upward. Getafe leave El Sadar with questions to answer and a long season stretching ahead in which the answers cannot wait.