With a month of winnable looking games ahead, Real Sociedad had the chance to put some serious points on the board in their quest for European football. The visitors got off to the perfect start here too, with David Silva doing what he so often does and putting the ball on a plate for Alexander Sørloth to tap home inside ten minutes. In the space of four second half minutes the game completely turned on its head. Rodrigo Riquelme hit an absolute rocket from distance into the top left corner to level the scores, before Arnau Martínez headed home to fire Girona into a shock lead.
Almost as quickly as Girona took the lead, they managed to lose it as Martín Zubimendi’s measured lob was cushioned down by Sørloth who took one touch to control and a second to rifle home an equaliser. Mikel Merino ought to have fired Sociedad ahead within 90 seconds of the restart and Girona made him pay for his missed chance. Valentín Castellanos drove from deep and unleashed a fierce drive which should’ve been easily dealt with by Álex Remiro, but the Sociedad stopper made a hash of the shot and inadvertently fumbled the ball into the corner.
This game was a real see-saw of an affair, and Sociedad drew level for the second time of the afternoon as Brais Méndez’s free-kick eluded everybody and nestled into the far corner, before a farcically long VAR check confirmed the goal would stand. In yet another twist of fate, Sociedad took the lead just moments later. Silva’s delivery was inadvertently helped on by Merino and the ball fell kindly to Martín Zubimendi who prodded home to hand Sociedad the initiative with 20 minutes left on the clock.
Girona weren’t for lying down, and having made an earlier error, Remiro was in no mood to allow another equaliser and made two fine saves to deny Riquelme his second goal of the afternoon. This game really was something special but laying to rest was proving problematic for Sociedad, who missed the chance to extend their advantage to two when Sørloth hit the post. It wasn’t to prove costly for Los Txuri-Urdin though, who added fifth through Takefusa Kubo to heap more misery upon Girona boss Míchel Sánchez who has now never beaten Sociedad in four managerial H2Hs.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Mikel Merino (Real Sociedad)
