Sociedad leapfrog Villarreal to go on top with win over Betis

Real Sociedad continued La Liga’s unpredictable start to the season by going top of the table on Sunday, after a 3-0 win away at Real Betis.

Villarreal had temporarily claimed first place earlier in the day by beating Valencia 2-1 at la Ceramica but Real Sociedad’s impressive victory put them ahead on goal difference.

They are the sixth different team to lead La Liga after six rounds of fixtures so far, as Real Madrid gave up their place at the top of the pile after a surprise loss at home to Cadiz on Saturday. Barcelona were also beaten away at Getafe.

Sociedad took advantage as Portu and Adnan Januzaj scored goals either side of Mikel Oyarzabal converting a penalty to consign Betis to a third defeat in four games under their new coach Manuel Pellegrini. They drop to sixth.

Earlier, Dani Parejo came back to haunt Valencia by scoring the winner for Villarreal, against his former club.

After making 363 appearances for Valencia, many of them as captain, Parejo was one of a handful of key players allowed to leave in the summer.

His deflected shot in the 69th minute was a reminder of what they were missing as Villarreal held on to go one point above Real Madrid.

Despite a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Barcelona last month, it has been an encouraging start for Unai Emery, who was appointed Villarreal coach in July.

They have 11 points from their first six games.

Valencia sit 12th, having won just once in their last five matches, with the future of coach Javi Gracia still uncertain.

Gracia was critical of the club after Valencia sold the likes of Parejo and Francis Coquelin to Villarreal, as well as Rodrigo and Ferran Torres to Leeds and Manchester City, but failed to make a single addition in the summer transfer window.

Emery was also once at Valencia and so was Villarreal’s Paco Alcacer, who opened the scoring with a penalty before Goncalo Guedes levelled shortly before half-time.

Yet Parejo had the last word, receiving a pass from Takefusa Kubo and curling in after his shot deflected off Mouctar Diakhaby. Kubo was then sent off in the 90th minute after coming on in the 64th.

La Liga title race set to be more open than ever

Spanish champions Real and great rivals Barcelona appear increasingly unlikely to have things their own way this season, as has been the case over the last decade, with the ‘big two’ meekly losing at the weekend after a stuttering start.

While Real and Barca have games in hand due to their European commitments over the summer, neither side looks capable of racking up their habitual total of 90-plus points.

Promoted Cadiz were worthy of their 1-0 victory at Real, while Barca looked second best in losing 1-0 away to a combative Getafe side up for the fight.

The Spanish giants looked leggy and the two minnows showed the rest of the league the blueprint of how to get at their more illustrious counterparts.

When you factor in a footballing off-season like no other due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not hard to see why the big sides might struggle this season.

Real did not make any signings and have an ageing squad.

Barca, meanwhile, are in turmoil off the pitch with their board facing a vote of no confidence and forward Lionel Messi looking like he would rather be anywhere else than the Nou Camp after trying to engineer a move during the transfer window.

Even Atletico Madrid, the only side to have broken the Real-Barca duopoly in recent times, have looked laboured, with leading strikers Luis Suarez and Diego Costa the wrong side of 30 and plagued by injury doubts.

With distracting Champions League games coming up in the next two months and this weekend’s ‘Clasico’ likely to see Real or Barca slip further off the pace, opportunity knocks for an outsider to launch a surprise title assault this term.

Agencies