(Football news) In a Champions League season in which four LALIGA EA SPORTS teams topped their groups for the first time in history, Real Sociedad demonstrated that Imanol Alguacil’s hard work has paid dividends. The Basque side finished top of Group D, leading last year’s runners-up Inter on goal difference. Real Sociedad remained unbeaten throughout the group stage, securing three wins and three draws in six duels.
A memorable group stage for La Real
Real Sociedad’s return to the Champions League for the first time in a decade coincided with a glamour tie, as Inter visited the Reale Arena. That game got off to an excellent start as Brais Méndez opened the scoring, but Real Sociedad then missed a few chances to put the game to bed and Lautaro Martínez punished them with a late goal in a game that ended in a 1-1 draw.
Despite feeling like they’d dropped two points, La Real bounced back. They travelled to Austria to face RB Salzburg in early October and turned in a convincing performance, with Mikel Oyarzabal and Méndez netting one each as Real Sociedad emerged with a 2-0 win. What followed was two games against Benfica, with Méndez getting his name on the scoresheet again to lead a superior Real Sociedad to a 1-0 win in Portugal before the Txuri-Urdin hosted Benfica in November and grabbed a huge 3-1 victory courtesy of first-half goals from Mikel Merino, Oyarzabal and Ander Barrenetxea.
By this point, Real Sociedad had already booked their ticket to the Round of 16. But they wanted to finish as group winners. La Real outshot RB Salzburg by 21 shots to four at home in the penultimate round of the group stage but lacked a finishing touch, with the game ending in a 0-0 stalemate. Another goalless draw, this time away at Inter, then saw Real Sociedad clinch top spot in their group for the first time in their history. It was a special moment.
“I don’t think we are aware of what we are doing, of what this team is achieving,” Imanol Alguacil said after the game in Italy. “Surely in a few years we will appreciate it more clearly. Making history in a stadium like this and against a great rival like Inter, progressing to the Round of 16 and topping the group, it’s incredible.”
PSG in the Round of 16
The 2023/24 Champions League Round of 16 draw took place on Monday, December 18th, when Real Sociedad fans found out that their team will take on Paris Saint-Germain. The first leg will take place at the Parc des Princes on Wednesday, February 14th, with the return being played at the Reale Arena on March 5th as the LALIGA EA SPORTS side earned the right to have the second leg at home.
Following the draw, Imanol Alguacil didn’t hesitate to say that Real Sociedad’s objective is none other than reaching the Champions League final. “I’ll be honest with you,” he noted. “I found out [about the draw] when we were coming back from training, and I am satisfied and excited, because in order to reach the final you have to face the best. When we reached the Copa del Rey final, we had to face Real Madrid on the way. If you want to reach the final, you have to play against the best, and in the Champions League there are a few of them. There are very few bad teams.”
Competing for a European spot in LALIGA EA SPORTS
Having finished seventh, fifth, sixth and fourth, respectively, in Imanol Alguacil’s four full seasons in charge of the team, Real Sociedad have demonstrated that they have made significant progress under the Basque coach over the last few years.
This season, the Txuri-Urdin are one win away from reaching the Copa del Rey final, while theyhave picked up 37 points from their first 24 games in LALIGA EA SPORTS and currently sit seventh in the table. Finishing in the top four once more will be difficult, but the primary objective is to clinch European qualification for a fifth season in a row and Imanol Alguacil’s presence in the dugout provides fans with the confidence that the team will manage to achieve their goal for yet another campaign.
