PAMPLONA, Spain-- Osasuna secured a surprise 2-0 home win over Atletico Madrid in LaLiga on Thursday as headers by Alejandro Catena and Ante Budimir moved them another step closer to European football.
Defender Catena headed in from a corner to put the hosts in front in the 25th minute before Budimir doubled Osasuna's advantage eight minutes from fulltime, moving them up to ninth in the standings.
Osasuna are now level on 48 points with eighth-placed Rayo Vallecano, who occupy the spot for the Conference League qualifiers as five LaLiga teams are headed to the Champions League this season.
Osasuna will hope to return to a European competition nearly two decades after they reached the semi-finals of the Europa League, back then known as UEFA Cup, in 2007.
They reached the Conference League playoffs last season but were eliminated by Club Brugge 4-3 on aggregate.
Atletico, who have been out of the title race and had already secured a Champions League spot, remained third with 70 points after 36 games.
Diego Simeone's side, who beat Real Sociedad 4-0 on Saturday with striker Alexander Sorloth scoring all four goals inside 30 minutes, looked uninspired and went behind when Catena converted Bryan Zaragoza's corner kick to give Osasuna the lead.
Sorloth had an excellent chance to equalise eight minutes later with a diving header but Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera made a superb save.
The encounter was largely forgettable after that until Budimir nodded home late on.
Enzo Boyomo showed some impressive dribbling skills before passing to Kike Barja, who crossed into the box for Croatian striker Budimir to score his 20th league goal of the campaign.
Budimir is third in the LaLiga scoring charts this season, behind Kylian Mbappe (28) and Robert Lewandowski (25).
Osasuna host 16th-placed Espanyol on Sunday before visiting Deportivo Alaves, in 17th, in their final fixture.
Atletico will play Real Betis and Girona to end their season.
