Villarreal 1 - Real Sociedad 3

Villarreal: López Vallejo; Xavi Roca, Berruet, Quique Alvarez, Arruabarrena; Jorge López, Amor (Jaime 46'), Javier Gracia (Schelotto 64'), Calleja (Craioveanu 64'); Víctor, Palermo. 4-4-2.
Real Sociedad: Alberto; López Rekarte, Loren, Julio César, Aranzábal; Xavi Alonso, Idiakez (Aranburu 89'); Tayfun, Khokhlov, De Pedro (Pikabea 82'); De Paula (Gurrutxaga 69'). 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Villarreal: Amor, Javier Gracia for Schelotto, Jaime / Real: Xavi Alonso, De Pedro for Fuentes, Luiz Alberto.

Goals:
0-1. 25. López Rekarte. Controlled long ball from left, beat Arruabarrena and shot.
1-1. 27. Víctor. Close up after Palermo touched on long ball from Amor.
1-2. 51. Tayfun. Picked up diagonal pass from Alonso and shot from outside area.
1-3. 56. Idiakez. Shot into roof of net after quick free kick by De Pedro.

Real Sociedad moved back out of the drop zone with one of their best displays of the season at the Madrigal stadium. John Toshack's side were playing their first match since their disastrous game against Valencia where they had to play the whole second half with nine men, and the repercussions are still going on, with the club lodging appeals to the ground closure imposed by the disciplinary committee designed to delay the one match ban until the start of next season. Both Fuentes and Luiz Alberto were suspended for this match, together with Jankauskas who was sitting out the second of his four match suspension, although López Rekarte could play as his ban was lifted, and De Pedro and Xavi Alonso also returned after serving out their one match penalty. With the exception of long term injuries to Cagna and Unai, Villarreal were back to full strength, with manager Víctor Muñoz deciding to bring back Amor and Gracia after their one match bans despite good performances last week by Schelotto and Jaime.

The San Sebastian side came out to a hostile crowd who had not forgotten that they were largely responsible for their club's relegation two seasons ago, playing at half speed and eventually losing against their Basque neighbours Alavés in the last match of the season. Alavés stayed up and Villarreal went down in their place after losing the relegation play offs. That didn't worry them though, and Tayfun and De Paula both went close in the opening ten minutes as they started with confidence. Halfway through the first half the visitors went into a deserved lead, López Rekarte getting his first goal of the season with a move which a top striker would have been proud of, controlling a long pass and beating his man before coolly picking his spot. The lead only lasted a couple of minutes though, Palermo catching the defence on the hop with a touch through to Víctor, who finished clinically for his fifteenth goal of the season, referee Megía Dávila waving away claims for offside. Real's domination continued at first as De Pedro shot just over the bar, although the home side did have their best moments of the match in the ten minutes around half time without causing too many problems for Alberto.

Six minutes into the second half Real were back in front, Xavi Alonso taking the ball out of his own defence and finding Tayfun with a magnificent pass for the Turkish international to hold off a challenge and drill the ball past López Vallejo. Before Villarreal had time to react Idiakez had added a third, De Pedro taking a quick short free kick which caught the defence off guard. Víctor put on Schelotto and Craioveanu, but Real didn't relent, having thrown away the lead too many times recently, and Khokhlov forced two good savers out of López. But after Megía sent off Julio César for a second bookable offence Toshack started to play safe, bringing on Gurrutxaga and then Pikabea as he fell back to a 5-4-0 formation. Their nerves were on edge as Alberto pulled out a fantastic double save from a Craioveanu free kick and a Schelotto follow up, but they kept their cool to move a point ahead of Osasuna and within one of Valladolid and Oviedo, both of whom have to pass through the 'Bermuda triangle' before the end of the season. Villarreal lose a good opportunity to move back into the UEFA cup spots, but with Celta and Alavés losing as well it was not so bad. Worse was their failure to take revenge on their rivals. They will have to wait until next year to do so, assuming that Real are still around. After this game, there is more chance that they will be.