Athletic embarked on a sixth semi-final appearance in the last seven seasons, as they locked horns with their Basque rivals a mere 10 days after contesting this fixture – a hard-fought 1-1 draw – in LaLiga.
A tense two-legged tie was in prospect, and there was a suitably cagey start here in front of a capacity crowd at San Mamés.
Ernesto Valverde’s side created their most promising opening when Iñigo Lekue’s trickery down the right resulted in a cross for Gorka Guruzeta, whose towering header went straight into Álex Remiro’s grasp.
But as was proven when they came so close to taking maximum points here earlier this month, Sociedad are never ones to shy away from attacking opportunities, and worked their first opportunity of note when Pablo Marín bore down on goal with just Álex Padilla left to beat, but he could only fire his shot straight at the Athletic goalkeeper.
There was still time for a moment of derby day controversy towards the end of the half too, as a VAR review decided against awarding La Real a penalty, despite Duje Ćaleta-Car’s header appearing to strike Aymeric Laporte’s arm inside the box.
Undeterred, Sociedad came within inches of breaking the deadlock within a minute after the restart, when Padilla made a fine save to deny Mikel Oyarzabal, before Marín agonisingly hit the post with his follow-up from point-blank range.
However, the visitors finally found a deserved breakthrough in the 62nd minute, when Gonçalo Guedes latched onto Carlos Soler’s pass, nipping the ball past Padilla and into the path of Beñat Turrientes to fire home into an empty net.
Ernesto Valverde’s side created very little going forward in response, and their struggles were epitomised when Nico Williams headed wide from Lekue’s enticing cross from the right-hand side.
Unlike the league meeting here, there was to be no grandstand finish from the Lions, who have now only won one of their last six home games (D2, L3).
They have plenty of time to stew over this result too, with the second leg not scheduled until 4th March. Meanwhile, Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side can reflect on a job well done after extending their unbeaten run to 11 games across all competitions (W8, D3) at the halfway point of this tie.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Carlos Soler (Real Sociedad)
