Real Sociedad 3 - Zaragoza 1

Real Sociedad: Alberto; Tayfun, Kvarme, Luiz Alberto, Aranzábal; Xabi Alonso (López Rekarte 65'), Idiakez (De Paula 75'); Aranburu, Nihat (Khokhlov 60'), De Pedro; Kovacevic. 4-2-3-1.
Zaragoza: Láinez; Komljenovic, César, Paco, Sundgren (Garitano 46'); Aragón (Drulic 46'), José Ignacio; Toro Acuña, Galletti (Bilic 75'), Vellisca; Milosevic. 4-2-3-1.

Team changes: Real Sociedad: Alberto, De Pedro for Westerveld, López Rekarte / Zaragoza: César, Paco, Sundgren, Toro Acuña, Galletti for Cuartero, Aguado, Pablo, Juanele, Jamelli.

Goals:
1-0. 01. Kovacevic. Took De Pedro pass and shot past keeper.
2-0. 44. De Pedro. Picked up free kick outside wall and shot across keeper.
2-1. 55. Milosevic. Glancing header after Kvarme nodded back Garitano cross.
3-1. 82. De Paula. Squeezed ball over line between Láinez and Paco.

Real Sociedad climbed up two places to eighteenth after their second home win in a row, a 3-1 victory over Zaragoza. It was billed as a match between the two prodigal sons Kovacevic and Milosevic, who both returned to their old clubs last month, and each were to score for their respective sides again in this game. Kovacevic in fact only took a minute to get his goal, taking De Pedro's pass to beat Láinez with many of the fans still taking their seats, and he could have scored two more in the next five minutes as his team grew in confidence thanks to the early goal. Toshack had brought De Pedro back to his starting line up, and he and Nihat were creating havoc in Zaragoza's makeshift defence, which included youngster César Jiménez for the first time this season in view of a number of injuries and the suspension of Pablo.

It was not a good day for those supporters who tend to arrive late and go to the bar early at half time, as they would have missed Real's second goal as well, a set piece free kick with Xabi Alonso finding De Pedro unmarked on the left of the area for him to shoot across the helpless Láinez. Luis Costa decided if he was going to lose then it might as well be by a lot, and he brought on Garitano and Drulic at the break for Sundgren and Aragón. For a while their game improved, and Acuña brought a good save out of Alberto who had returned to Real's goal for the first time in two months as Westerveld was not fit to play. A minute later Milosevic got his goal, taking advantage of errors by Kvarme and Luiz Alberto to place a header past the home grown keeper, and Drulic wasted a good chance to make it all square a few minutes later. But there the visitors' challenge died, and after Iduakez and Khokhlov both put point blank headers wide, De Paula squeezed between Láinez and Paco to force the ball over the line for a third right at the end. Real move up onto 25 points, just four now behind sixteenth placed Zaragoza who are drifting dangerously towards the bottom three.