Real Sociedad confirmed their Champions League qualification with a game to go of the 2022/23 La Liga campaign, despite going down 2-1 to Atletico Madrid at the Civitas Metropolitano.
La Real have their top four place in the bag because Villarreal went down to a surprise 2-1 defeat away to Rayo Vallecano. At SBOTOP odds of 2.23 to win Atletico were superb as Antoine Griezmann scored a sublime opener before the break, taking a pass from Rodrigo de Paul and sliding the ball home; and then he teed up Nahuel Molina for the second midway through the second half. Griezmann has bee simply sensational since his return from Barcelona.
Head coach Imanol Iguacil can be happy with Sociedad’s performance as his team shared possession at 50/50 and the shot count at five each on target. Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth pulled a late goal back for La Real but Los Rojiblancos held out to climb to within a point of second placed Real Madrid. But it is the Basque team which is celebrating tonight.
In other La Liga 2023 newsReal Betis confirmed their Europa League place with a 2-1 win away to Girona and that confirms their sixth place. Elsewhere Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets said goodbye to Barcelona fans in their final seasons at the Camp Nou as the Blaugrana beat Mallorca with Ansu Fati scoring an early brace. That result took Barca on to 88 points and 11 clear of Real Madrid at the end of a brilliant campaign for Xavi’s men. But Busquets and Alba will leave big shoes to fill as Xavi continues his evolution at the Camp Nou.
While for Barcelona it was a sentimental night, elsewhere in Catalonia there was despair.
Late Heartbreak for Espanyol is delight for Valencia
Valencia looked like they were being dragged back into the relegation scrap as Espanyol went into a 2-1 lead at the Mestalla but a late, late goal gave Los Ches a big chance of another year in the top flight while Espanyol were condemned to the drop.
Diego Lopez gave Los Ches a lead late in the first half but Espanyol hit back with a well taken header from Cesar Montes. Martin Braithwaite poked home from close range to put Los Periquitos in front early in the second half and they held out until the 93rd minute until Samuel Lino got Valencia out of jail with a spectacular finish in the top right corner.
Espanyol players believed there was a foul in the lead up to Valencia’s equaliser and they have been upset by many referee decisions this season. But that won’t help them now and they need to prepare to fight back in the Segunda Division next term.
Rodrygo’s time to shine
Without the injured duo of Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior it was the turn of 22 year old Brazil star Rodrygo to take the limelight for Real Madrid as he scored a well taken brace in a 2-1 win over in-form Sevilla. Last week Real Madrid visited Valencia and slumped to a 1-0 defeat and they recovered to beat Rayo Vallecano in midweek; but they made a very slow start at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuain Stadium when Rafa Mir followed up a blocked shot to fire the hosts in front, with just three minutes on the clock.
Los Blancos were level on the half hour when Rodrygo lined up a free kick and swept it low into the bottom right corner, giving Sevilla keeper Bono no chance. His second goal, and Real Madrid’s winner, came with 20 minutes to go as the visitors broke at speed, Toni Kroos fed Rodrygo and he was clinical again, once again finding the bottom right corner. Any thoughts of a Sevilla fight back went out of the window when Marcos Acuna felled Dani Ceballos and the referee brandished a red card, and Kroos was close to adding a third for Los Blancos as the clock ticked down.
The pre-season La Liga 2023 betting odds pitched Los Blancos as favourites to win the title, but a drift in form as Barca clicked through the gears saw the end of Carlo Ancelotti’s challenge to Xavi.
Sevilla’s recent form has been mightily impressive. They have coasted to safety following a poor first half of the campaign but this defeat left then in tenth place and they need to beat Roma in the Europa League final on Wednesday to avoid missing out on European football for the first time since 2013.
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