Real Sociedad survived a frantic second-half comeback to beat Deportivo de A Coruña 3-2 at Anoeta, as first-half goals from Jon Martín and Arsen Zakharyan plus Gonçalo Guedes' third put Pellegrino Matarazzo's side clear before a red card and a late Deportivo surge turned a comfortable afternoon into a 10-versus-10 scramble.
Match facts
- Result: Real Sociedad 3-2 Deportivo de A Coruña (half-time 2-0)
- Competition: Spanish La Liga, Matchday 8
- Venue: Estadio Municipal de Anoeta (Reale Arena), San Sebastián
- Attendance: 33,644
- Scorers: Real Sociedad - Jon Martín 29', Arsen Zakharyan 34', Gonçalo Guedes 54'; Deportivo - Mario Soriano 61', Yeremay Hernández 69' (pen)
- Assists: Real Sociedad - Carlos Soler (29'), Ander Barrenetxea (54'); Deportivo - Riki Rodríguez (61')
- Red cards: Pablo Marín (Real Sociedad) 66'; Lorenzo Amatucci (Deportivo) 90'
- Referee: Miguel Sesma Espinosa
- Table after: Real Sociedad 6th, 13 pts (4-1-3); Deportivo 8th, 10 pts (2-4-2)
- Next: Real Sociedad visit Málaga (La Liga)
How the match unfolded
Matarazzo left Mikel Oyarzabal on the bench and started Zakharyan through the middle with Guedes wide, while Deportivo — without Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang — looked to Yeremay Hernández for the cutting edge. Deportivo began brightly and forced early saves from Álex Remiro, but Sociedad took control from set pieces.
In the 29th minute Carlos Soler's corner found Jon Martín, who powered a header into the top left for 1-0 — the defender's third headed league goal for the club, all clustered around the half-hour mark. Five minutes later Zakharyan doubled the lead with a left-footed strike from outside the box into the bottom right. Deportivo threatened before the break, with José María Giménez heading just over from a free-kick delivery, but Sociedad went in 2-0 up.
Nine minutes into the second half Ander Barrenetxea led a fast break and Guedes finished left-footed from the left side of the area into the top right for 3-0. Matarazzo then withdrew both Guedes and Zakharyan for Oyarzabal and Job Ochieng. Deportivo responded with a triple change, introducing Lorenzo Amatucci, Adrià Alti and Adama Traoré.
The visitors hauled one back in the 61st minute when Riki Rodríguez — on at half-time for David Mella — set up Mario Soriano, who drove in from outside the box. Five minutes later Pablo Marín fouled Bil Nsongo in the area, was sent off, and Yeremay converted the penalty to the bottom right to make it 3-2. Remiro then produced a string of saves as Deportivo poured forward, denying Yeremay and Riki from close range while Sociedad cleared repeatedly.
In the 90th minute Amatucci was shown a straight red for a foul on Oyarzabal, leaving both sides with 10 men for the six minutes of stoppage time. Sociedad held on as Remiro and the defence saw out the pressure for a first home league win in weeks.
Ten men, then ten against ten
Marín's dismissal flipped the contest. From 3-0 and in control, Sociedad were suddenly a man down and clinging to a one-goal lead while Deportivo piled on corners and shots. Remiro finished with six saves; Deportivo had more of the ball (about 60%) and more shots (20-12) yet could not force an equaliser once Amatucci's late red evened the numbers.
What the result means
Sociedad climb to sixth on 13 points from eight games and snap a poor home run in the league. Deportivo stay eighth on 10 points after a third league outing without a win, having shown enough fight after the interval to leave San Sebastián frustrated rather than empty-handed on merit of the comeback attempt.