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Real Sociedad logo
La Liga
Feb 7, 2015 at 9pm UK
 
Celta Vigo logo

1-1

FT(HT: 1-0)
Nolito (85')

Live Commentary: Real Sociedad 1-1 Celta Vigo - as it happened

Relive Sports Mole's live commentary of Celta Vigo's 1-1 draw away to Real Sociedad in La Liga.
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Nolito struck an 86th-minute equaliser as Celta Vigo held Real Sociedad to a 1-1 draw at the Anoeta Stadium tonight.

David Moyes's side looked on course to move 10th in La Liga after Imanol Agirretxe headed the hosts ahead after nine minutes.

However, Nolito grabbed his second goal in the space of six days to equalise in timely fashion and deny the Royals.

Below, relive Sports Mole's live text commentary of the clash in San Sebastian.


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Good evening ladies and gents and thanks for joining our live text coverage of Real Sociedad's clash with Celta Vigo at the Anoeta Stadium. It's the 11th La Liga game of David Moyes's stint in San Sebastian, and to be fair, he's doing a decent enough job. Victory tonight would see Moyes's side climb up to 10th in Spain's top flight and seven points clear of relegation, which isn't bad when you consider the fact that they were 15th and a few point clear of danger when he took over.

They have struggled for consistency, however, as the Royals come into this with their last six games looking like this: DWDLWL. They went down 4-1 at Real Madrid last time out, while the first 'W' in that sequence was a 1-0 victory over Barcelona early in 2015. Like a bag of Revels, you just don't know what you'll get from Sociedad under Moyes.

Speaking of fluctuating between hot and cold, did you know that Moyes and his assistant Billy McKinlay introduced Spain to the kettle? Yep. In an interview with The Guardian recently, the Scot said: "It's not easy to get a good cup of tea over here. My assistant, Billy McKinlay, has brought a kettle over so we can have a cup of tea after training. I'm not sure all my players know what it is, as most Spanish households don't have kettles." Amazing.

Spain didn't have computers or photocopiers in the country before the Scottish duo took over at Sociedad either, so thanks to the technology that they brought over I'll have team news for you in a few short minutes.

REAL SOCIEDAD XI: Rulli; Mikel, Iñigo, Granero, Agirretxe, Xabi Prieto, Rubén Pardo, Canales, Chory Castro, Yuri, Zaldua

CELTA VIGO XI: Sergio, Fontás, Santi Mina, A.López , Nolito Larrivey, Jonny, S.Gómez, Cabral, Krohn-Dehli, Augusto

REAL SOCIEDAD SUBS: Zubikarai, Elustondo, M. Bergara, Finnbogason, Zurutuza, De la Bella, Hervías

CELTA VIGO SUBS: Rubén Blanco, Pablo Hernández, Charles, Madinda, T. Bongonda, Planas, Borja Fernández

We'll start with Sociedad and it looks like Moyes has opted to make three changes from the defeat at the Bernabeu.

Carlos Vela is poised to miss the next two months with a knee injury, meaning that Imanol Agirretxe is drafted in to replace him up front tonight. Aritz and Gorka Elutondo drop out for Joseba Zaldua, who replaces Aritz at right-back, while Chory Castro comes in for Gorka on the wing.

On to the visitors now and Celta boss Eduardo Berizzo makes two changes from his side's 1-0 win over Cordoba last week. Left-back Carles Planas makes way for Jonny, while Alex Lopez comes into centre midfield to replace Fabian Orellana. Nolito, who struck the only goal last week for what was Celta's first victory since November, continues up front, with Joaquin Larrivey in support.

Incidentally, Berizzo will not be in the dugout tonight as the Celta coach serves the first of a two-game touchline ban after being sent off in the win over Cordoba for disputing a late penalty against his side. The decision was overturned, so his appeals were successful, but he was still sent off.

Right, let's get a prediction horribly wrong, shall we? Why not, and I'll be punting for a 2-1 home win tonight. I've watched Sociedad quite a bit this season, and they don't score a lot of goals, a cause that won't be helped with the absence of top goalscorer Carlos Vela, but they should still have enough to win. I don't see them scoring any more than that. 2-1 it is. Four minutes to go!

Alright so both sets of players make their way out to the field now and we should be getting underway fairly soon. I expect a decent game.

We're having a moment of rememberance for the Sociedad fan who tragically lost his life in a car crash en route to watch his team face Real Madrid last week. David Moyes was among the mourners at the funeral. Fair play to him.

KICKOFF! Aaaaaaaaaaaand we're off in San Sebastian. Celta, in their all green kit, get us underway. Big night for Canales, who is expected to step in the absence of Vela. Let's see what he's made of.

Celta have started very well and youngster Santi Mina is very nearly in on goal, while Zaldua get across goal really well to prevent Nolito from tapping home from close range. Very lively so far.

GOAL!!!!!! SOCIEDAD 1-0 CELTA VIGO (Imanol Agirretxe)

What a brilliant start for the hosts, and it's Agirretxe, the man who replaced the injured Carlos Vela. It's a dodgy cross in from Esteban Granero, but Xabi Prieto's superb cushioned header falls kindly for Agirretxe, who heads past Sergio Alvarez from close range. Celta will be fuming because they were the better side.

BOOKING: Early booking for Sociedad as Mikel Gonzalez goes into the book for a crunching challenge on Joaquin Larrivey. I felt that from Ireland.

CHANCE! And Celta nearly equalise from the resulting free kick as Mina sneaks between a few defenders and plants a header just wide.

CHANCE! We've got a fantastic game on our hands here folks, and really it should be 2-0 to the hosts. Chory Castro floats a wonderful cross into the box for the unmarked Agirretxe, who should've taken a touch but he went first time and his volley is straight at Alvarez. Poor option.

I said 2-1 before we kicked off here but this could be any score. It's such an open game, which is brilliant for the neutral.

Really good play from Joseba Zaldua as the right-back cleverly heads past Gustavo Cabral en route to the byline, but his cut-back can't find Agirrexte in the middle.

This Michael Krohn-Dehli looks a very tidy player. The Celta midfielder is going to be integral if his side leave San Sebastian with a positive result tonight. His international teammate is Nicklas Bendtner so he's obviously used to running rings around lesser players, but he's making good players seem ordinary here.

Bit of a dodgy moment from Sociedad keeper Geronimo Rulli, who comes to collect a routine ball but he ends up spilling it under pressure from Larrivey, but fortunatly for him it comes to nothing. He's getting treatment now, but he looks to be alright.

Celta winger Santi Mina also looks a fine prospect. He's only 19, unlike Krohn-Dehli who must be well into his 30s by now, but the youngster has just gone past Yuri Beriche as if he wasn't there. Really exciting player to watch.

If Celta continue on in the same vein then there's goals for them here. It's hard to believe that their 1-0 win over Cordoba last week was their first victory in 13 games because they look a very decent outfit so far. In fact, they're comfortably the better team, despite trailing 1-0.

Very little to report in recent minutes as the tempo seems to have dropped dramatically in recent minutes. Why? Lord knows, but it'll pick up again because it's that type of game.

Nolito is lambasting the linesman for penalising him for a foul just outside the Sociedad box. They'll whip this into the area. Promising. Stay tuned...

It's a poor delivery from Canales and the opportunity fizzles out. Lest we forget that it should already be 2-0 after Agirretxe missed that second chance minutes after opening the scoring.

There's something very Luis Suarez about Nolito. He's a classy player but there's grit and a nastiness to him. He's grabbed six goals and six assists so he's having a very good season so far from that left-hand flank.

Celta haven't done a lot in the last 10 minutes or so, but they'll be back for another shot in the second half. They're a stubborn side, and a very good one if this first 40 minutes is anything to go by.

HALF TIME: REAL SOCIEDAD 1-0 CELTA VIGO

Well that half kind of petered out in the end but it started off brilliantly, with Imanol Agirretxe heading Real Sociedad into a 1-0 lead. Both sides had fairly decent chances in front of goal, with Celta particularly threatening at times, but it remains 1-0. Last 10-15 minutes weren't great admittedly, but I expect a fine second half.

RESTART! Right we're back underway at the Anoeta. Sociead, playing from left to right in this half, kick us off. If it starts anything like the previous half then we could see fireworks!

Really good play early on by Sociedad as Sergio Canales lifts a fantastic ball into the penalty area in the hope that Agirretxe will reach it, but Celta clear their lines.

BOOKING: Esteban Granero goes into the book now for what the referee claims was a cynical handball. Seems fair enough. Maybe he was watching the Six Nations?

BOOKING: Augusto Fernandez goes into the book now for a bit of retritbution Granero. Referee has had a good game so far to be fair. He's been howled by the home fans once or twice tonight, but he's done grand.

SHOT! This doesn't go down as a chance, but it's a good effort by Santi Mina, who volleys straight at Rulli from inside the box. It was at a nice height for him.

I'm not going to lie; this one has lost all of its pizazz. It seemed at one point that it was shaping up to a cracker of a game, but it's not panned out that way. From the half-hour mark onwards it has become far more tactical.

BOOKING: Imanol Agirretxe becomes the fifth man to be booked, and it's another handball and the Sociedad fans don't like that one bit. Sociedad lead 3-2 in the yellow card stakes, and 1-0 overall. Celta have been disappointing in this half.

BOOKING: Ugh, another yellow, this time for Gustavo Cabral and the match is descending into a bit of a mess as Cabral cynically hacks down Chory Castro. All of the fluency is gone.

CELTA SUB: Theo Bongonda comes on to replace Sergi Gomez now. Will that spark the visitors into life? Hopefully because, despite being a neutral, I'd quite like to see an entertaining last 25 minutes.

OVER THE BAR: This might be Celta's first shot on goal in this second half, as Cabral leaps highest from a free kick to glance a header just over the bar. It was never troubling Rulli.

DOUBLE SOCIEDAD SUB: David Moyes makes his first two changes now as Alfred Finnbogason and David Zurutuza replace goalscorer Imanol Agirretxe and Chory Castro respectively. Castro, in particular, was in bits and nearly crawling off the field.

BOOKING: Joseba Zaldua goes into the book for catching Santi Mina. I think it's 4-3 to Sociedad now in terms of cautions. Six of them have come in the second half, which should put into context how stop-start it has been.

SHOT! It's not even close, but they're getting closer as Nolito lashes a shot well over the crossbar. They're running out of ideas. They have the footballing equivalent to writers block.

Celta are going for it now. They're taking a gamble and Berizza has deployed four in attack now. And why not? Fortune favours the brave, and the way things were going Sociedad were going to labour to a 1-0 win.

CELTA SUB: The visitors make their second sub now as Charles Dias replaces the disappointing Joaquin Larrivey for the final 10 minutes.

BOOKING: Yet another yellow and that's eight we've had tonight, and seven in the second half! It's Alex Lopez. It's been a really frustrating half for both teams, both managers, and me.

BOOKING: Jonny Castro becomes the ninth player booked. Can we get a 10th? We want 10. On a footballing note, Sociedad have a free kick in a dangerous area. Canales is standing over it, but he crosses it and the chance goes begging. Have a shot mate.

GOAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SOCIEDAD 1-1 CELTA VIGO (Nolito)

This has come from absolutely nowhere. Bongonda plays it into the Spaniard in the box, and he somehow manages to turn and squeeze a shot past Rulli from what was a very difficult angle. That was a really good goal and far harder than it looks. Well done Nolito, who scored the winner against Cordoba last week for Celta's first win since November. They couldn't, could they? They've got over five minutes so who knows.

THREE MINUTES ADDED ON:

We might see one last chance for Sociedad here as a wonderful piece of skill from Canales wins a free kick in a dangerous position. It's not a shooting position, but they will fizz this into the box. Hold your breath.

FULL TIME: SOCIEDAD 1-1 CELTA VIGO It comes to nothing. What a disappointing end to that game for Real Sociedad, who are held to a 1-1 draw. There's boos and whistles ringing around the Anoeta Stadium, presumably for the referee who didn't have a great game to be fair.

Anyways, that's all we've got time for, my friends. Moyes and Sociedad denied 10th place in La Liga by Nolito's 86th-minute equaliser. We'll be back tomorrow with action from La Liga AND the Premier League so let's hope we meet again. Cheers!

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Celta Vigo's Nolito celebrates after scoring against Sevilla during the La Liga match on March 29, 2014
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