Mikel Oyarzabal provided two assists as Real Sociedad secured a 2-1 victory over Espanyol at the Reale Arena, ending their long wait for a home league win and earning their first points of the LaLiga season.
Sociedad started brightly and opened the scoring inside four minutes. Oyarzabal capitalised on a poor Espanyol turnover before setting up Ander Barrenetxea, who calmly finished into the top-right corner.
The hosts continued to dominate, with Marko Dmitrović making a crucial save to deny Omar El Hilali from inadvertently scoring an own goal. Despite being second best for much of the half, Espanyol levelled on the counter just before the break when Javi Hernández’s clever diagonal ball found Roberto Fernández Jaén, who slid home to make it 1-1.
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Real Sociedad regained control after the restart and restored their lead on the hour mark. Oyarzabal carried the ball forward before threading a perfectly weighted pass through to Orri Óskarsson, who fired into the bottom corner.
Óskarsson nearly added another shortly afterwards, but a double goal-line clearance denied him. Dmitrović then produced another impressive close-range save to keep out Gonçalo Guedes as Sociedad continued to push for a third.
The hosts ultimately held their nerve to secure a deserved victory, despite manager Pellegrino Matarazzo receiving a late red card. The result gives Real Sociedad their first points of the season, while Espanyol suffered an eighth defeat in their last 12 LaLiga away matches and extended their wait for an away win against Sociedad to 10 meetings.
