Real Sociedad - Athletic Club

Real Sociedad won the Basque Derby 3-0 at the Reale Arena. It was an undeserved scoreline for Athletic, who were punished for a lack of precision in both boxes. Imanol Alguacil's men put away all their chances whereas Los Rojiblancos failed to hit the target with their five clear chances.

As expected, la Real started with plenty of enthusiasm, but Athletic withstood the early onslaught and eventually began to see more of the ball. Kieran Tierney suffered an early injury and then Robin Le Normand put the hosts ahead against the run of play, his goal coming from a set-piece Athletic failed to properly clear away.

Nontheless, the Zurigorri picked themselves up and looked to get back into the match. Gorka Guruzeta went close when he headed over the bar from a Yuri Berchiche cross.

Nico Williams, making his return from, then put a great ball into the box and Iñaki Williams was inches away from getting a touch to it.

Ernesto Valverde brought Asier Villalibre on for Guruzeta at half-time. The restart could not have been more unlucky. Moments after Iñaki almost scored an equaliser, Take Kubo finished off a la Real counter to make it 2-0.

The match had become an uphill struggle, but the Lions didn't down tools. Iker Muniain, who became Athletic's second highest appearance maker ever, forced a save from Alex Remiro after being played through by Iñaki.

The home side killed the match off in the 65th minute, making Athletic pay for another moment of indecision as Mikel Oyarzabal skipped through a gap in the defence and rounded Unai Simón for Real Sociedad's third.

Beñat Prados had a chance to reduce the deficit, but Remiro was on hand to turn the ball behind for a corner. 

A tough defeat to take, but the season is long and now we have a chance to bounce back against UD Almería at San Mames next Friday.