It was not possible. La Real went in search of the win but they are eliminated from the UEFA Europa League. The realistas lost 2-1 against FC Salzburg in a tie game in which they had to follow behind the Austrian team. The European dream is over but we’ll be back.
We had to go all out. Due to the natural bravery of the hosts and the style and the need of the visitors, it looked like the game would be open. Oyarzábal came close to open the scoring but his header hit the crossbar. Next, the Austrians attacked and Dabbur broke the deadlock. There were 80 minutes left and we had to score two goals, something which was in our plans. The txuri-urdin players steadily gained ground and before the 30th minute, they evened the score thanks to Navas’ header after a corner kick. The game was open. Little by little, the hosts created danger and the team from Guipúzcoa were going all out to net the second. 1-1 at the break and the team needed to score, at least, one more goal.
The second started off with low intensity by both sides. With just over a quarter of an hour to play and in less than a minute, everything was against us. Second yellow for Navas, penalty to the hosts and goal by Berisha. Januzaj came close to net the equalizer with a left footed strike which was parried by the keeper.
Thus, la Real bid farewell to the competition with the feeling that they could have done more. The first leg clash was determining and tonight, the team were not capable of winning. Shame. Aúpa Real!
Lineups:
FC Salzburg: Walke (cap), Lainer, Andre Ramalho, Onguené, Ulmer, Samassekou, Schlager, Yabo (Berisha, m.62), Haidara, Wang (Gulbrandesen, m.90) and Dabbur.
Real Sociedad: Rulli (T. Ramírez, m.77), Odriozola, Aritz, Raúl Navas, De la Bella (Llorente R., m.46), Illarra, Zurutuza, Canales, Oyarzabal, Januzaj and Agirretxe (cap) (Bautista, m.70).
Goals: 1-0: Dabbur, m.10. 1-1: Raúl Navas, m.28. 2-1: Berisha (pen), m.74.
Referee: Karasev (Russian). Cautioned Schlager and Dabbur for FC Salzburg and Illarra for la Real. Sent off Raúl Navas for la Real (m.70).