Not the way we wanted to end 2021. La Real fell to Villarreal at the Reale Arena by 1-3 after the sending off of Oyarzabal on forty nine minutes. The visitors’ strategy sealed the victory. Bitter goodbye.
The first chance fell to the hosts. Isak won the ball in the opponents' half, flew up and fired home, but his shot was denied by Rulli. Then, Villarreal grew into the game and enjoyed some chances through Yeremi and Dia, who was denied by Ryan. The game was an open affair as both sides looked to carve out chances. The opportunities began to materialise, the first fell to Isak, who tried his luck with a header that went wide. Next, Oyarzabal tried to turn home a cross from Januzaj but neither he nor Isak found the net. With 32 minutes on the clock, the Swedish forward popped up and excelled on account of his ability to go past the keeper and scored a sensational goal to open the scoring. However, six minutes later, Gérard scored with a header after a corner kick.
After the break, la Real were reduced to ten men when Oyarzabal was sent off with a straight red. Imanol did some changes and la Real looked to respond. A powerful shot by Gerard was superbly dealt with by Ryan on his debut at the Reale Arena. Nonetheless, twenty minutes before the final whistle Gerard scored a brace in a passage of play almost identical to that which yielded the first goal. Sørloth could have scored the equalizer in stoppage time but Rulli kept his header out. The visitors added a third through Chuqwueze in the minute 95.
La Real now heads into the Christmas break and need to turn this situation around and charge the batteries for the new year. Aupa, Real!
Match details:
Real Sociedad: Ryan, Zaldua, Zubeldia (Sørloth, min.82), Le Normand, Aihen (Rico, min.82), Zubimendi, Merino (Aritz, min.65), Silva (Barrenetxea, min.52), Januzaj (Portu, min.52), Oyarzabal (cap) and Isak.
Villarreal CF: Rulli, Foyth, Albiol (cap), Pau, Alberto (Trigueros, min.82), Estupiñán (Pedraza, min.61), Capoue, Parejo, Yeremy (Chukwueze, min.61), Gerard and Dia.
Goals: 1-0: Isak, min.32. 1-1: Gerard, min.38. 1-3: Chuqwueze, min.95.
Referee: Figueroa Vázquez. Booked Merino and Zaldua for Real Sociedad and Estupiñán, Pau and Parejo for Villarreal CF. Oyarzabal was sent off in the minute 49.
Attendance: 29,679 spectators.