A look at Europe | Who wants La Liga?

Throughout the season, Press will offer a weekly roundup of the greatest moments on the European soccer scene

Jean-Francois Téotonio
Press

The story

The Spanish championship is more open than ever. FC Barcelona is mired in a swamp of problems, both sporting and financial. Real Madrid are constant in their inconstancy. Atlético de Madrid are still in good form after their title last year, admittedly, but not dominating too much.

Result: there is no favorite this season in La Liga. Clubs that knock on the door regularly see it opening up in a concrete way.

This is the case of Real Sociedad, established in San Sebastián, in the Basque Country. On Sunday, she took the lead in the championship on her own, drawing 1-1 against Athletic Bilbao, her biggest rival, in the Basque derby. They have 25 points, one more than Sevilla and Real Madrid, with one more game played.

This success, the Basque club owes it in particular to Imanol Alguacil Barrenetxea – or, more simply, Imanol. Hired in 2011 as director of the youth categories, Imanol led an ambitious reorganization of this club, which was once still in danger of relegation. He gradually rose through the ranks until he was named the senior club’s head coach in 2018.

Here he is now with 7 wins and 4 draws in 12 games this season. His only defeat (4-2 against Barça) dates from August 15. The defense is tight: it ranks third in La Liga in terms of conceded goals. David Silva and Martín Zubimendi take care of a creative midfielder. Young attackers Alexander Isak and Mikel Oyarzabal (absent Sunday) are the headliners of an attacking sector whose production is diversified.

If there was a season where everything could finally fall into place for Real Sociedad, it might just be this one.

The goal

Just because your club is languishing in the bottom of the standings doesn’t mean you can’t afford an anthology goal.

Was this the thread of thought for Saint-Étienne midfielder Wahbi Khazri when he tried his formidable strike on Saturday against Metz? We dare to believe that it is.

The Tunisian international grabs the ball in his penalty area, and is allowed to advance without pressure up to 10 meters from the center circle. He notices that goalkeeper Alexandre Oukidja is well advanced, on the other side. Why not ?

This goal, scored from a distance of 68 meters, is the most distant in Ligue 1 since the statistics company Opta collected the data, since 2006.

This achievement was 1-1 at 16^e minute in a clash between two clubs fighting against relegation in Ligue 1.

The performance

Six goals in two games. Who says better ?

Giovanni Simeone is all fired up in Italian Serie A these days.

The Hellas Verona striker had scored four (four!) Goals against Lazio Roma last week. Six days later, he offered himself a two-goal performance against Juventus, leading his club to a 2-1 victory.

The Argentinian, son of Atlético de Madrid coach Diego Simeone, is acquiring a notoriety of his own. He now has eight Serie A goals, just one unit behind leaders Ciro Immobile. And it looks like it only marks bombs.

His irresistible 2-0 strike drove Juve even more to despair. It is that the Turinese, ninth at the end of the 11^e day in the Italian league, looking for each other since the departure of Cristiano Ronaldo. Simeone, with his growing killer instinct, took full advantage of it.

The 26-year-old wears the number 99. Far be it from us to make questionable comparisons with a certain “Wonder” of ice hockey, but its current form gives us the temptation.

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