Captain Mikel Oyarzabal struck twice in the first half to inspire Real Sociedad to a crucial 2-1 victory over Sevilla on Friday, lifting the Basque side out of the Spanish La Liga relegation zone.
The win, only Sociedad’s second of the season, came before an electric home crowd that urged their team on from start to finish.
Oyarzabal opened the scoring in the 19th minute from the penalty spot after Sevilla conceded a spot kick under pressure.
Sevilla responded on the half-hour mark through Nemanja Gudelj, whose low shot from a well-executed set piece deflected past the Sociedad goalkeeper to level the contest.
But the Serbian midfielder went from hero to villain just six minutes later. A moment of confusion between Gudelj and teammate Jose Angel Carmona from a throw-in allowed Sociedad to pounce, with Oyarzabal capitalizing brilliantly.
The captain turned smartly inside the box and fired a precise low effort beneath the Sevilla keeper to restore the lead.
Oyarzabal’s brace, his fourth goal of the campaign, secured a much-needed win that moved Sociedad up to 14th place with nine points from 10 matches.
Reflecting on the loss, Gudelj admitted his side had only themselves to blame,“It’s a match that we’ve lost because of our mistakes. We have to fix the errors and we haven’t done it.”
Sevilla, meanwhile, remains ninth in the standings with 13 points from the same number of games.
