As referee Pedro blew his whistle, the match between Espanyol and Real Sociedad began.
The Spaniards have a solid 442 formation today.
The goalkeeper is still No. 13 Paul Lopez.
Four backs 23-Albila, 22-a-Gonzalez, 6-Rocco, 3-Duarte;
Four midfielders: 4-Victor Sanchez, 16-Xavi Lopez, 25-Asensio, 8-Seville;
Double forwards: 7-Moreno, 20-Caicedo
Real Sociedad is an attacking 433 formation.
Goalkeeper Luli, the four defenders are Erustondo, Reyes, Della Bella, and Mikel. The three midfielders are Prieto, Iliamendi, and Pardo; the three forwards are Carlos Bay.
La, Jonatas, Bruma.
Real Sociedad had the home advantage and launched a fierce attack on Espanyol at the beginning.
The Espanyol team maintained a stalemate with Real Sociedad in the midfield, waiting for an opportunity to counterattack Real Sociedad.
In the 5th minute of the game, the Espanyol team stole the ball in the midfield, and captain Xavi Lopez passed the ball to Asensio. Asensio dribbled the ball from the center towards the Real Sociedad penalty area.
Asensio became famous at a young age, and Real Sociedad had also heard of his name. They did not dare to be careless, so two people came to attack Asensio.
Asensio saw Moreno advancing and immediately pushed the ball behind the defender.
Asensio's pass passed between the two defenders accurately. Moreno made a diagonal pass, got the ball and entered the penalty area.
The Spanish fans who came to support the match were overjoyed and thought they would have a fantastic start today.
However, at this moment, referee Pedro's whistle sounded and Moreno was offside.
Moreno was very upset. He took a step early and lost an opportunity to face the goalkeeper alone.
Real Sociedad served from the backcourt and continued to attack.
After Real Sociedad lost several shots in the center and on the wing, forward Carlos Vela saw that the ball could not hit the penalty area and directly kicked the goal from 30 meters away.
This shot was very powerful, but Carlos Vela did not hold it down, and the ball flew directly over the crossbar and into the stands.
The Espanyol team took a goal kick, and after Paul took the kick, the ball was picked up by the defender of Real Sociedad.
The ball was passed to the midfield, Iliamendi broke through from the wing, and was destroyed by the Spanish defender. Real Sociedad got a corner kick opportunity.
Carlos Vela took the corner kick and the ball passed a little close to the goalkeeper.
Spanish goalkeeper Paul jumped up, picked the melon behind his head, and snatched the ball from forward Bruma's head.
Paul tried to launch an attack by throwing the ball, but the Real Madrid players were very experienced and stayed in front of Paul to prevent him from launching a counterattack.
Paul had no choice but to give up the opportunity for a quick counterattack and drove the ball towards the frontcourt with a big kick.
The ball was pushed into the midfield by the Real Sociedad defender. After a scramble, Real Sociedad midfielder Iliamendi won the ball.
Iliamendi split the ball, and Jonatas on the wing passed the ball diagonally into the penalty area to find his forward teammate.
Carlos Vela, who followed up from the center, headed the ball in the penalty area, but unfortunately the ball was too high and was held in the arms of goalkeeper Paul.
The two sides went back and forth, the game was very fast, and twenty minutes passed in the blink of an eye.
During this period, Real Sociedad took the initiative, but did not have more shooting opportunities than Espanyol.
The Spaniard's defensive counterattack tactics are implemented very thoroughly. If there is an opportunity, they will pass the ball forward, or pass it to Asensio, and let Asensio break through the middle to look for opportunities.
In this way, the Espanyol team did not take many shots and hit the goal frame more times than Real Sociedad.
In the 20th minute of the game, Real Sociedad launched an attack from the center. The full-back De La Bella pushed up the side. Iliamendi in the center passed the ball diagonally to the wing. De La Bella went to the baseline and swept the ball towards the goal.
De La Bella's pass was so fast and accurate that the Spanish players in the penalty area did not dare to take the ball for fear of scoring an own goal, so they just blocked the path of the attacking player.
Real Sociedad forward Bruma stretched out his kick behind the defender and hit the ball, and the ball went into the net.
1:0
Real Sociedad took the lead.
The fans of Real Sociedad waited for a long time, but unexpectedly, a cross ball that seemed not very threatening was scored.
“goalgoalgoalgoal…”
The Anoeta Stadium is boiling.
Real Sociedad fans cheered loudly.
"Goal!" Moyes, the head coach of Real Sociedad, waved his fist fiercely towards the court.
The team failed to win a game in the first three rounds, and Moyes was under great pressure.
Fans and media outside the court are already calling for a coaching change. If he can't win this round against the Espanyol team that is not as strong as him, the pressure on him will only be greater.
Espanyol head coach Sergio's face was as deep as water. He was not satisfied with this defense. His defender lacked responsibility. This ball must be cleared. Even if it is an own goal, if this ball is let go, the opponent will hit it.
Goal.
However, Real Sociedad is stronger than Espanyol and it is a home game. Sergio is mentally prepared to fall behind and has made arrangements before the game.
Sergio signaled the players to calm down and play as planned.
After the celebration, the game continues.
The Espanyol team did not attack aggressively because they were lagging behind, but continued to defend and counterattack step by step.
On the contrary, Real Sociedad, which was leading by one goal, played a little impatiently.
In the 25th minute of the game, Asensio took the ball in the middle, moved horizontally to the wing, passed a defensive player, and then took off and shot into the far corner of the goal.
Asensio's shot was very accurate. After goalkeeper Luli discovered it, he quickly moved to the back corner and flew to save the ball, but he failed to touch it.
Just when goalkeeper Luli was annoyed, the ball hit the corner between the goal post and the crossbar and bounced out.
The ball was caught by a Real Sociedad player and they immediately launched a counterattack.
Real Sociedad counterattacked quickly, and the ball quickly hit the wing. Castro on the wing paused for a moment and passed a half-high ball diagonally into the penalty area.
This was a weird curve ball. Espanyol goalkeeper Paul wanted to get the ball, but found that after the ball flew in front of the goal, it was far away from the goal. He stopped.
What the goalkeeper fears most is hesitation in attacking. Paul's hesitation caused the opponent's forward Jonatas to volley from the right side of the penalty area and the ball hit the dead center of the goal.
2:0
Real Sociedad extended the score.
After scoring the goal, Jonatas raised his hands in excitement, ran to the stands, and roared at the home team fans.
"Jonatas! Jonatas!"
The fans at the scene chanted Jonatas's name and burst into applause like a roaring tsunami.
Moyes on the sidelines ran excitedly to Jonatas who scored the goal and gave the striker a warm hug.
The on-site commentator said in surprise: "In the 31st minute, Real Sociedad led by two goals! It's really unexpected. This should have been a close game, but now it seems to be one-sided."