Sociedad tighten grip on 3rd place with derby win over Athletic

Sports Desk, Jan 14 (EFE).- Real Sociedad prevailed 3-1 in Saturday’s Basque derby against Athletic Bilbao to consolidate their grip on third place in LaLiga.

With 35 points, Sociedad are 7 better than Villarreal and trail second-place Real Madrid by just 3 points, though the Blancos have two games in hand.

Athletic remain 8th in the table on 26 points.

The hosts started aggressively before a record crowd of 38,342 at Reale Arena in San Sebastian and only the post stopped Brais Mendez from putting Sociedad up 1-0 in the 10th minute.

But Athletic had ambitions of their own and Iñaki Williams forced a save from goalkeeper Alex Remiro before Alexander Sorloth opened the scoring for Sociedad in the 25th minute.

Take Kubo extended the lead in the 37th minute, exploiting an Athletic giveaway, but Oihan Sancet halved the deficit for Athletic three minutes later.

Sorloth left with injury early in the second half, replaced by captain Mikel Oyarzabal.

Another loss of possession by Athletic would prove decisive, as Yeray Alvarez’s desperate tackle of Kubo resulted in a penalty for the home side and a red card for the visiting defender.

Oyarzabal converted from the spot to restore the two-goal margin and 10-man Athletic struggled to mount any threat. EFE cr/dr