Real Sociedad’s streak without conceding a goal at the Reale Arena stretched to more than 10 hours after 23-year-old Takefusa Kubo’s solo goal secured a vital 1-0 victory to move within two points of their opponent Villarreal, who have now lost three of their last four matches. the road.
Despite Villarreal’s top-five position, only relegation-threatened Real Valladolid had conceded more goals than Marcelino’s side before the weekend, but Juan Foyth’s return to the starting line-up after more than A year’s absence has certainly been an encouragement in this department.
They managed to overpower Sociedad – who themselves are among the lowest scorers in the division – from the early stages whilst creating a chance at the other end of the pitch as Thierno Barry was released by Pape Gueye but n failed to add to his hat-trick against Leganes last time out. .
One of the players determined to turn the hosts’ attacking fortunes around was Kubo, who then created his side’s best chance of the half. His foray into the box saw the ball deflected towards Luka Sucic to fire a shot against the base of the near post, but that spelled the end of the limited first-half action.
However, the sparse but passionate Anoeta crowd roared just minutes after the restart when Kubo brilliantly took Mikel Oyarzabal’s long ball on his head and raced into the box, turning inside Kiko Femenia and finishing inside the post.
Fortunately for Marcelino, club legend Gerard Moreno was waiting to change things from the bench, and he tested Alex Remiro just moments after entering the fray.
Luiz Junior then made a strong save to prevent Sucic’s deflected shot from creeping in before play came back at the other end as the visitors’ desperation for an equalizer intensified.
-However, their finishing wasn’t dangerous enough from Barry and Gueye to trouble the steadfast Remiro, and the home side held on for a narrow victory.
A sixth unbeaten home outing for Sociedad was accompanied by another clean sheet for Remiro, extending his lead at the top of the clean sheet table with an 11th of the campaign.
The defeat not only sees Villarreal move further away from Athletic Club for the UEFA Champions League places, but also allows La Real to enter the race themselves.
Flashscore Homme du match : Takefusa Kubo (Real Sociedad)
Find all the match statistics here.
