Despite the incentive of being able to climb into La Liga’s top three with a victory, Real Sociedad started fairly slowly against a Betis side who were hot on their tails. Sociedad’s Pablo Marín looked bright on his maiden La Liga start, and the promising youngster forced the first meaningful effort on goal when he fired straight at Rui Silva from a tight angle. Besides a Carlos Fernández strike that rattled the post, there was precious little by way of goalmouth action in the first half, with the scores unsurprisingly goalless at the break.
Having hit the woodwork in the first half, when Fernández was thwarted early in the second by Silva, he was perhaps starting to wonder whether it would be his night. Sociedad themselves may have been left contemplating whether things were going to drop their way tonight, even more so when Mikel Merino powered Diego Rico’s corner into the ground and over the bar, before stinging the palms of Silva with a fierce strike moments later.
Betis had offered precious little throughout the evening and a wayward strike from Juan Cruz was somewhat symptomatic of their underwhelming evening. However, Cruz was not deterred by that effort, stepping forward to strike his first La Liga goal five minutes from time, as he swept home Álex Moreno’s cross before Borja Iglesias added the icing on the cake with a second to ensure Betis leapfrogged their hosts into fourth.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Rui Silva (Real Betis)