Sociedad wins at Granada to pull level with Barca, Real

Real Sociedad went level on points with La Liga leaders Barcelona after snatching a 2-1 victory away to 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 mid-week 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 Real Madrid and Barcelona, who both have a game in hand. Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil said his side deserved the victory but was not interested in discussing whether they could remain among the top three come the end of the season.

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

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.

Meanwhile, La Liga side Celta Vigo have sacked coach Fran Escriba hours after his side were beaten 1-0 at home to Getafe on Sunday.

Sunday’s defeat to Getafe was Celta’s fourth defeat in a row and left them 18th in the standings on nine points after 12 games, two behind Real Mallorca who occupy the last berth outside the drop zone. A former coach of Villareal, Getafe and Elche, Escriba took charge of Celta in March and helped them avoid relegation but his side have only managed to win two games this season, drawing three and losing seven.

Agence France-Presse