NOS Football•today, 11:09 PM
Real Madrid recorded a narrow victory in the Spanish league on Friday evening when they visited Real Sociedad. In a rainy San Sebastián it became 0-1 for De Koninklijke, who are almost champions. The lead over Barcelona is now fourteen points.
Real coach Carlo Ancelotti allowed himself to rest a large number of star players. El Clásico was won against arch-rival FC Barcelona last week and the match against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the Champions League is scheduled for Tuesday.
As a result, players such as Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Toni Kroos were on the bench and many players who are normally reserves were allowed to make an appearance. Among them is Arda Güler, the 19-year-old Turk who came over from Fenerbahçe this summer. He got his first starting spot in the Spanish league.
Güler, of all people, gave Real Madrid the lead after just half an hour of play. The youngster received a tight, low cross from Dani Carvajal and shot through the goalkeeper’s legs. The lead was somewhat flattering, because Sociedad had the better of the game.
Disallowed goals
Sociedad remained the better team in the remainder and even scored twice, but both goals were disallowed. First, a foul was committed on Tchouameni prior to a goal by Takefusa Kubo, later Mikel Oyarzabal scored from an offside position.
The almost 40,000 spectators in the Estadio Anoeta saw Amsterdammer Sheraldo Becker come on fifteen minutes before the end, but he too could not make the difference. His most important achievement was a hard shot that just went over.
