Real Sociedad will host Mallorca in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey. After a scoreless draw in the first leg on February 6, the two teams have since played. Real Sociedad emerged victorious 2-1 in La Liga on February 18. This has left the tie in a precarious position.
Preview (Real Sociedad vs. Mallorca)
Interestingly enough, Real Sociedad has only taken home the Copa del Rey twice before—in 1987 and 2020. They have been in four other finals. On February 6, the White and Blues traveled to Mallorca in the hopes of securing a first-leg advantage. However, the mostly unremarkable encounter ended goalless. Real Sociedad’s lone triumph in their last seven games in all competitions came on February 18. As previously noted, the Basque team defeated Mallorca 2-1 in the league. It was a dismal run of results. The team led by Imanol Alguacil will be coming off a 3-1 home loss to Villarreal on Friday night. It dropped them to sixth place.
Real Sociedad is still playing in the Champions League, but they will need to put in a lot of work if they want to go past the round of 16. Their match against Paris Saint-Germain ended in a 2-0 loss in the first leg. The second leg is scheduled for March 5 in Spain. In contrast, Mallorca has only ever won the Copa del Rey. They took home the title in 2002–03 after defeating Recreativo de Huelva 3-0 in the competition’s final. Their most recent 3-2 victory over Girona was very noteworthy.
The team led by Javier Aguirre will come into this game coming off a 1-1 draw with Alaves on Saturday. Matija Nastasic tied the score in the 88th minute after Carlos Benavidez put the Basques ahead in the 76th. Mallorca is battling to maintain their top-flight standing for the 2024–25 season. They are presently sixth points ahead of the relegation zone in the La Liga standings. Since they defeated Real Sociedad 6-1 in the Copa del Rey during the 2011–12 season, the Pirates have not been able to defeat the Basque team.
Team News
Due to injuries, Real Sociedad will once more be without Alvaro Odriozola, Carlos Fernandez, Martin Merquelanz, and Aihen Munoz for the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal. Aritz Elustondo and Mikel Oyarzabal, meanwhile, have serious injury doubts for the match against Mallorca. They will need to go through final fitness testing. There won’t be many changes from the starting lineup for the 3-1 loss; if Oyarzabal is unable to demonstrate his fitness, Mikel Merino could be the only change. Ander Barrenetxea was forced off during the early stages of Friday’s match against Villarreal and is also expected to miss out.
Regarding Mallorca, Pablo Maffeo remains out due to a knee injury, while both Siebe Van der Heyden and Antonio Raillo have completed their suspensions and are available for selection. The team that began the league match against Alaves will be altered by head coach Aguirre, who plans to start Kyle Larin again in the latter third of the pitch to partner Vedat Muriqi. Dani Rodriguez, Samu Costa, Giovanni Gonzalez, and Julio Costa are also expected to be added to the team, but Sergei Darder should continue to start in midfield.
Real Sociedad 2-1 Mallorca
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