Real Sociedad rout Malaga 5-2 at La Rosaleda despite late fightback

Kubo needed just two minutes to put Real Sociedad ahead at La Rosaleda, and from there the game turned into a goal-scoring party that finished 2-5 in favor of the visitors. Seven goals, seven chances taken, and a Malaga side that fought until the end but could never stop the bleeding.

The script seemed written for the Basque side from the opening whistle. With barely two minutes on the clock, Kubo curled a left-footed effort from outside the box into the top corner, finishing off an assist from Hector Fort. Real Sociedad didn't ease off, and in the 25th minute the second goal arrived: Orri Oskarsson struck with his right foot from the center of the area to make it 0-2, sending both sides into the break with a gap that already felt heavy.

Malaga's fightback falls short

In the second half, Malaga found a spark through Adrian Nino, who in the 53rd minute curled a right-footed finish into the top corner off an assist from Pablo Martinez to make it 1-2. The goal seemed to pull the home side back into the game, but the hope was short-lived: five minutes later, Mikel Oyarzabal, set up by Kubo, made it 1-3 with a left-footed finish inside the box.

Malaga answered again. Pablo Martinez headed home a corner in the 65th minute to make it 2-3, and for a moment a comeback felt possible at La Rosaleda. But that hope faded almost immediately: barely a minute later, Oyarzabal scored his second goal of the afternoon, this time from outside the box, to make it 2-4. The closing blow came in the 72nd minute, when Goncalo Guedes, on from the bench, finished from point-blank range for the final 2-5.

What the numbers say

Real Sociedad led in nearly every category on the stat sheet: more possession, more shots and more completed passes. Malaga, however, created more clear-cut chances, a detail that explains why the match felt closer than the final score suggests.

In terms of xG calculated after the fact based on shot locations, Real Sociedad generated 2.542 to Malaga's 2.014, a gap that confirms the visitors deserved the win, even if the final score ended up more lopsided than those numbers suggest.

The preview had left some interesting figures to compare against what actually happened. Our projection gave Real Sociedad a 46% chance of winning, with Malaga at 27% and a draw also at 27%, with expected goals of 1.24 for the home side and 1.68 for the visitors. The result ended up far more lopsided than that forecast: seven goals in total, well above the projected total of 2.92, with Real Sociedad far exceeding what was expected of its attack.

What the match means for the table

With this result, Real Sociedad sits on 16 points from nine matches played, the product of five wins, one draw and three losses, and holds a 12-point gap over Malaga in the standings. Malaga, for its part, remains without a win: the club has four draws and five losses in nine matches played, with just 4 points, numbers that explain why Funes's side needs results urgently. Pellegrino Matarazzo, on the other hand, can take away an afternoon in which his team showed efficiency from start to finish, even when the hosts gave them a scare with two second-half goals.