Real Sociedad was superior to Celta and is in the Cup semifinals waiting for a rival. Almost without breaking a sweat, with an advantage from the beginning, Imanol’s men were better, despite the final result, and deserved the prize of playing in two games to qualify for the Spanish championship.

1

Ivan Villar, Kevin Vazquez, Mihailo Ristic, Carlos Dominguez, Carl Starfelt, Jailson (Aspas, 64 mins), Renato Tapia (Fran Beltran, 72 mins), Miguel Rodriguez (Luca De La Torre, 45 mins), Williot Swedberg , Hugo Alvarez and Anastasios Douvikas

2

Remiro, Zubeldia, Jon Aramburu, Le Normand, Tierney (Elustondo, min. 38), Martín Zubimendi, Oyarzabal (Jon Magunacelaya, min. 89), Merino, Brais (Jon Pacheco, min. 78), André Silva (Arsen Zakharyan, min. 45) and Sheraldo Becker (Sadiq, min. 78)

Goals 0-1 min. 1: Oyarzabal. 0-2 min. 65: Sheraldo Becker. 1-2 min. 91: Luca De La Torre.

Referee César Soto Grado

Yellow cards Anastasios Douvikas (min. 47), Merino (min. 65), Unai Núñez (min. 74), Jorgen Strand Larsen (min. 92), Mihailo Ristic (min. 94) and Jon Magunacelaya (min. 95)

Benítez wanted to give a twist to the team that just a few days before had fallen to Real in the League, “because we are not stupid and we learn from mistakes”, but by minute 2 he had already bit the dust on a throw-in length, several rebounds, the assist from Merino, who won them all in the air and also at ground level, and the timely shot from Oyarzabal, always in the right place.

The Celtic team, so novel, wanting to resemble the one that dismasted Valencia in the previous round, was an amalgamation of individualities, not a sum. With the score once morest so early on, the one who moved the most was Iago Aspas, but without the possibility of intervening, because he was warming up the bench. Those on the pitch didn’t understand each other, they got tangled, stumbled and lost balls constantly, and despite themselves. I remember, there, in the goal, sucking humidity, that the river passes nearby, with no more work than to pay attention to what was happening beyond his area, because his rivals might not find even the slightest connection.

While Celta suffered in every set piece, and there were a few, or when the new Becker displayed his charms, and his speed, in his first minutes with the Real shirt, which was closer to the second than that The Vigo team tied. The best news for the celestial team was going to half-time with such a meager score for Real, because in the pressure the San Sebastian team always won, in the melee as well, and in the territory of ideas, Imanol’s group had a very defined one, and Celta’s light bulb didn’t turn on. The worst news for Real was the loss of Tierney due to injury. The Scottish player joins the curse of the blue and white full-backs, who have fallen game by game in recent days.

Benítez’s team pressed harder at the beginning of the second half, but they saw Real’s goal from very far away. When Aspas and Mingueza took the field it was not late, but as if it were, because they had not yet touched the ball when Brais, a wedge of the same wood, saw the unmarking of the debutant Becker, who started from his field to stand in front of Villar, who was halfway out, and score the second for Real Sociedad.

Aspas generated more danger in the first three balls that reached his feet than the rest of Celta’s attacking team in all the previous minutes. The captain had no choice but to try it on his own, although it was very complicated for him with a comfortable opponent behind him, with the three centre-backs that Imanol ordered so as not to suffer from the predictable turmoil of the Galician team, with Sadiq as a pigeon man, looking for his career, Once Becker retired, he arrived and kissed the saint in Balaídos.

Nothing else happened, because neither Real needed it, nor might Celta, even if De la Torre scored in stoppage time to spice up the final moments, so, resigned, Benítez’s men stayed out and the San Sebastian team, in the week of the San Sebastián Tamborrada, they sing the Sarriegi march on the way to the semifinals. Almost without messing up.