Sociedad held by Real in six-goal thriller
28 May 2013 12:24 AM GMT
Real Sociedad’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in a decade were dealt a blow as they could only manage a 3-3 draw at home to Real Madrid. Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Maria Callejon had given Jose Mourinho’s men a 2-0 lead in his penultimate match in charge before a spirited fightback from Sociedad saw them level matters through Xabi Prieto and Antoine Griezmann.
Sami Khedira then put Madrid back in front 10 minutes from time, but Prieto struck again in stoppage time to at least give Sociedad a share of the spoils. ‘We played a great first-half with a lot of chances, but we had a great goalkeeper in front of us,’ Sociedad boss Philippe Montanier lamented afterwards in praise of Diego Lopez’s fine performance for the visitors.
And Lopez himself acknowledged how hard it had been to contain Sociedad. ‘Sociedad have demanded a lot from us,’ he told reporters. ‘They are a very good offensive team that have a lot of variety, good play and the fact they needed to win to play in the Champions League did the rest.’
The Basques now trail Valencia by two points with just one game to play in the fight for fourth place after Roberto Soldado’s solitary goal was enough to earn Los Che a 1-0 win over Granada.
Meanwhile, Barcelona kept up their charge towards 100 points with a 2-0 win at Espanyol thanks to goals in either half from Alexis Sanchez and Pedro.
And all three relegation places will go down to the final day with Deportivo la Coruna, Real Zaragoza, Celta Vigo and Mallorca all still fighting to avoid the drop that sums up an interesting last week in Spanish football.
Sami Khedira then put Madrid back in front 10 minutes from time, but Prieto struck again in stoppage time to at least give Sociedad a share of the spoils. ‘We played a great first-half with a lot of chances, but we had a great goalkeeper in front of us,’ Sociedad boss Philippe Montanier lamented afterwards in praise of Diego Lopez’s fine performance for the visitors.
And Lopez himself acknowledged how hard it had been to contain Sociedad. ‘Sociedad have demanded a lot from us,’ he told reporters. ‘They are a very good offensive team that have a lot of variety, good play and the fact they needed to win to play in the Champions League did the rest.’
The Basques now trail Valencia by two points with just one game to play in the fight for fourth place after Roberto Soldado’s solitary goal was enough to earn Los Che a 1-0 win over Granada.
Meanwhile, Barcelona kept up their charge towards 100 points with a 2-0 win at Espanyol thanks to goals in either half from Alexis Sanchez and Pedro.
And all three relegation places will go down to the final day with Deportivo la Coruna, Real Zaragoza, Celta Vigo and Mallorca all still fighting to avoid the drop that sums up an interesting last week in Spanish football.
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