Real Sociedad continue to impress this season after a 3-0 home hammering of Deportivo Alavés at a lively Anoeta Stadium. Martin Ødegaard and Mikel Oyarzabal run the show for La Real once again.
Story of the Match
Both clubs were looking to get their first derby win of the season, after both being defeated 2-0 by Athletic Club. However, tonight it was all La Real as they demolished Alavés 3-0, who lose their second Basque Derby in a week.
Alavés set up defensively again, in a 4-1-4-1 formation, so much like at Bilbao on Sunday they invited pressure onto themselves and once again this did not pay off. The crucial difference between the sides is that Sociedad likes to control games and currently have the quality to pick apart teams which was evident.
In the first quarter of the game Alavés were pinned back into their own half, barely having any chance to escape. Although La Real didn’t have any real shots on target in this period, with their best chance falling to Deigo Llorente whose free header at the back post failed to trouble the keeper. Yet, La Real were stretching the visiting defence throughout and it was only a matter of time before a goal came. The first sign of this was a beautiful through ball from Martin Ødegaard on the counter who found William José Ødegaard. Instead of shooting, he decided to square it to Mikel Oyarzabal who couldn’t get a clean shot away.
Alavés started to show their more adventurous side with Oliver Burke breaking down the wing and getting to the by-line, though his low cross was to no one since Lucas Perez was still at the edge of the box. To make things worse for Alavés, only a few minutes later, in the 18th minute, Ødegaard would pick up the ball just in their half and proceed to nutmeg Tomás Pina and play the most sublime pass that took out Alavés whole midfield and defence. All that was left to do was for Oyarzabal to take a single touch to round Fernando Pacheco and roll it into the empty net.
Sociedad maintained the pressure and on the 31st minute, Oyarzabal drove down the right-wing and somehow managed to squeeze a cross Rodrigo Ely which found José unmarked in the box for an easy header, making it two-nil.
As the first half went on, Alavés had to start taking some risks as they needed to find a goal, thus allowing La Real to break almost at will. In the 37th minute, Portu broke down the right and whipped in a cross which struck the outstretched arm of Adrain Marin, originally this was dismissed by the referee, but a few minutes later VAR had overturned this decision. Oyarzabal gave the keeper the eyes, sending the ball straight down the middle as the keeper dived to the right; 3-0 and La Real were in complete control.
Real Sociedad continued to control the game in the second half, with Alavés showing few moments of attacking invention, resulting in the complete absence of efforts that challenged Alex Remiro, as they finished the game without a single shot on target. Alexander Isak and Adnan Januzaj came on but only offered a few sporadic efforts between them; nothing that really troubled the keeper.
The major moment in the second half was when another penalty was awarded to La Real. Manu García, who came on in the 65th minute, brought down Mikel Merino in the box with five minutes to go. García was given a second yellow for this offence and was made to walk, as Portu stepped up for the pen. After a long wait and demanding to take the pen, Portu sent the ball low to the left, but without enough power, as Pacheco saved the shot with his trailing foot. This save was made even better as the highlight showed Pacheco signalling, he would dive that side before the penalty was taken.
Stand-out players
Martin Ødegaard
From his defence-splitting passes to his defensive work, Ødegaard was all over the pitch, causing absolute havoc tonight. He started to look like the player he was promised to be and has been one of the best, if not the best player in the league this season.
Mikel Oyarzabal
Two goals and an assist mean it would be hard not to heap praise on Oyarzabal, granted his two goals were an easy tap in and a penalty. Yet throughout this game he caused endless trouble for Alavés until he was taken off in the 60th minute, as was evident in his assist and constant attacking threat.
Real Sociedad: Alex Remiro; Gorosabel (Robin Le Normand 75th), Diego Llorente, Aritz Elustondo, Nacho Monreal; Ander Guevara, Mikel Merino, Portu, Martin Ødegaard; Willian José (Alexander Isak 46th), Mikel Oyarzabal (Adnan Januzaj 60th).
Deportivo Alavés: Fernando Pacheco; Adrián Marín, Lisandro Magallán, Rodrigo Ely, Martín Aguirregabiria; Tomás Pina (Manu García 60th, sent off in 85th), Mubarak Wakaso (Aleix Vidal 46), Pere Pons, Oliver Burke, Borja Sainz (John Guidetti 75th); Lucas Pérez.