La Liga SRL Round-Up | Real Sociedad and Valencia win, Celta Vigo held to draw and much more
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Unhappy with just playing on the weekends, the La Liga saw action on with four games in the late night Tuesday kick-offs. That saw Valencia, Villarreal, Real Sociedad, Espanyol and Celta Vigo in action with it being a weekday full of goals, actions, cards and plenty of drama for all in the SRL.
Leganes 1-3 Valencia
Tough match by anyone’s standards and somehow Leganes made Valencia work for all three points with there being a point in the game where the away side were floundering. Sure they managed to net two goals within minutes of each other before the half-hour mark, but for most of the first-half it was all the Leganes show. They created 41 dangerous attacks with Valencia creating less than half that although the hosts only managed to spend 45% of their time in dangerous attacks.
But their average of 15 seconds per attack showed that they failed to sustain it and while they pulled one back 11 minutes into the second half, it became even harder to sustain that. Valencia eventually walked away as proven winners despite taking only 13 shots to Leganes’ 20. The away side added a third goal ten minutes from time and effectively sealed the game.
Osasuna 2-2 Celta Vigo
For Osasuna, if they only went via the first half, this game was never going to end in their favour. They may have been the hosts for the night but Celta Vigo proved to be the far better side both offensively and defensively. Offensively, the visitors managed 32 dangerous attacks, a little more than double their hosts, while spending 75% of their time in dangerous attacks. Unfortunately, it never led to a goal and the restart began with both teams level on the score-board but that quickly changed.
Something was said at half-time that lit a fire under the hosts and they dominated the opening 20 minutes eventually scoring twice in the space of four minutes. It looked like they were homebound but Celta pulled one back against the run of play, two minutes later, and then added an equaliser on the brink of full-time. Added time saw both sides struggle to change the fate of the game, leaving them to settle for a point.
Espanyol 1-1 Eibar
An interesting first half despite it ending goalless meant that everything was to be played in the second half even though the visitors dominated till then. They were at their very best when creating opportunities to score but where they lacked was taking those chances. Just six shots on goal with only two on target while their hosts managed four shots with one on target. That’s despite producing 34 dangerous attacks with them spending 57% of their opening 45 in the same.
The second half saw absolutely nothing change although somehow Espanyol managed to get themselves into the game. The hosts made the away side sweat a few times with a couple of shots on goal but they never amounted to anything, not until Eibar scored. The opener came in 74th minute and lasted for exactly three minutes, with Espanyol restoring parity. And that was that, a few more shots from either side closed out the game with both teams forced to share points.
Villarreal 0-1 Real Sociedad
An interesting game and if you watched the first half, few would predict a result against Villarreal. They dominated Real Sociedad and yet the away side held firm despite their hosts pummelling them into submission with shot after shot. Eight shots in the opening half combined with 30 dangerous attacks after they spent 66% of their time in the same, meant that Villarreal should have had at least one goal.
But luck simply wasn’t on their side and it showed rather brilliantly. The second half proved to be more of the same and while the hosts came out swinging, Real Sociedad had the last laugh. They managed to score six minutes before time and then held on for their lives with Villarreal pushing for an equaliser. It never turned up and La Real walked away with all three points.
