(Football news) Real Sociedad travelled last week for Matchdays 31 at midweek and 32 at the weekend, and they ultimately returned to San Sebastián with four crucial points secured.
Last Tuesday, the Basque team travelled to Pamplona to take on Jagoba Arrasate’s tough CA Osasuna team and earned a crucial and impressive 0-0 draw. On Friday, the team travelled to Pamplona and defeated Jagoba Arrasate’s CA Osasuna team 2-0.
The winning streak for Alguacil’s team this week included a victory over defending champions Real Madrid as if that weren’t enough. La Real earned a victory at the Reale Arenam thanks to goals from Take Kubo and Ander Barrenetxea, securing their grasp on the final Champions League spot.
Real Sociedad has the right to have dreams of participating in the Champions League once again. The squad from northern Spain has only twice competed in the Champions League since it was established in 1992, in the seasons of 2003–04 and 2013–14. By making it to the group stage in 2023/24, they hope to continue their streak of earning a spot in the competition every decade.
Real Sociedad achieved qualification the last time around by placing fourth in LaLiga Santander, behind FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atlético de Madrid.
At the time, a qualifying playoff had to be completed, and Antoine Griezmann and Carlos Vela destroyed Lyon, guiding the Spanish team to a 4-0 overall triumph. That still ranks as one of the pinnacles of Real Sociedad fandom for many, and it’s common to see supporters in San Sebastián sporting the black away shirt that Griezmann was sporting when he scored his spectacular bicycle kick in Lyon.
The Real Sociedad team of today is considerably different. There isn’t even a single member left at the Reale Arena. Imanol Alguacil’s 2022–23 team, though, is equally impressive to see.
Igor Zubeldia and Robin Le Normand have one of the finest central defensive partnerships in LaLiga Santander, as seen by the team’s defence, which allows the third-fewest goals per 90 minutes in the league. Martin Zubimendi, 24, has enjoyed his best season yet in midfield as he has teamed up with Mikel Merino to form a stout duo.
Takefusa Kubo, Davis Silva, Brais Méndez, and Mikel Oyarzabal are an amazing group of creative players for Real Sociedad up front. They can all dribble and pass the ball to center-forward Alexander Srloth. Imanol Alguacil, the coach who has played for and coached Real Sociedad at all levels, knows the club like the back of his hand.
The fact that the majority of this Real Sociedad team graduated from Zubieta’s youth academy, many of them with Imanol, also helps. In the current first-team lineup, there are 16 academy graduates who understand exactly how La Real wants to play and how special it would be to return to the Champions League after missing out the last time as young Real supporters.
Real Sociedad players like Takefusa Kubo, a Japanese international, are aware that they are on the edge of something historic even though they are not academy graduates.
Kubo declared during his team’s 2-0 victory over CA Osasuna after scoring the second goal and said, “I think we need to go one game at a time, but with the performance, we are producing, especially this one, we have the right to dream. The fans are dreaming and so are we. We have to take it one game at a time, but I think it’s getting closer and closer. We know that we have six matches remaining and we’ll play these matches with our bodies, but also with our hearts.”
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