Sociedad gatecrash Granada party to go level at top of table

Updated: May 17, 2023, 05:19 am
Real Sociedad have climbed into a first-placed tie in La Liga.
MIGUEL ANGEL MOLINA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Real Sociedad went level on points with La Liga leaders Barcelona after snatching a 2-1 victory away from fellow high-flyers Granada on Sunday thanks to a late strike from forward Cristian Portu.

Portu had given the Basque side the lead midway through the first half, latching on to a pass from Mikel Oyarzabal and confidently finishing into the bottom corner after Granada lost possession inside their own half.

Promoted Granada had fallen off the summit of the table in midweek after surprisingly leading the standings last weekend and had the chance to reclaim top spot after Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid had all failed to win on Saturday.

They drew level in the 36th minute with an audacious long-range free kick from Alvaro Vadillo, helped by some poor goalkeeping from Sociedad's Alex Remiro.

But it was the visitors who struck in the 89th minute to steal all the points, as substitute Adnan Januzaj picked out Porto with a ground pass and the striker again showed real composure inside the area to score his second goal of the game.

The victory took Real Sociedad third on the standings on 22 points after 12 games, level with second-placed Real Madrid and leaders Barcelona, who both have a game in hand.

Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil said his side deserved the victory, but he was not interested in discussing whether they could remain among the top three come the end of the season.

"These three points are important to us, but so is every victory in this league, where any team can beat anyone else. Today we beat a side who were ahead of us and who are very strong at home, and that says a lot of our players," he said.

"The league table doesn't mean anything to us, we're more interested in the way we play and we're very happy with how we played today."

Granada coach Diego Martinez was proud of his team's performance but frustrated at the manner in which they lost.

"It's a real pity, the game was very evenly matched and I give my players 10 out of 10 for effort, but it wasn't meant to be," he said.

Earlier on Sunday, Osasuna continued their remarkable home form by beating Alaves 4-2 for a club record 31st home victory in a row in league competition.

The Pamplona club were last beaten at their El Sadar home in April 2018, when they were in Spain's second division, and earlier this campaign held champions Barca to a 2-2 draw there as well as beating Valencia 3-1.