Sociedad strike late to go clear in Spain
An injury-time penalty from Javi de Pedro earned Real Sociedad a 2-1 victory at home to Racing Santander and took the Basque side three points clear at the top of the Spanish first division.
An injury-time penalty from Javi de Pedro earned Real Sociedad a 2-1 victory at home to Racing Santander and took the Basque side three points clear at the top of the Spanish first division.
Racing, 2-0 winners at home to Real Madrid last weekend, took the lead with a Javi Guerrero strike on 23 minutes and were looking comfortable before striker Darko Kovacevic turned in a left-wing cross 16 minutes from time.
Real surged forward and grabbed a dramatic winner on Sunday after Turkish midfielder Nihat Kahveci was brought down on his way to goal, Racing defender Neru earning a red card for his troubles.
De Pedro stroked in the spot kick to take unbeaten Real Sociedad top of the table with 17 points.
Defending champions Valencia, who had a Pablo Aimar hat-trick to thank for their 5-1 win over Athletic Bilbao on Saturday, are in second place on 14 points ahead of Celta Vigo on goal difference after their 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid, surprisingly held to a 1-1 draw at home to Villarreal on Saturday, are in fourth at the head of a group of four teams on 12 points.
The other sides on that mark are Malaga, who let slip a 3-1 lead on their way to a 4-3 defeat at home to Espanyol, Deportivo Coruna, who won 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano on Saturday, and Real Mallorca, who had a 2-0 stroll past Osasuna on Sunday.
Barcelona are eighth after a 6-1 victory over Alaves on Saturday that featured a hat-trick from Patrick Kluivert.
Real Sociedad had looked set to hand the league leadership to Valencia as they missed a string of early chances and fell behind to Racing's first decent attack.
The home side failed to deal with a quick break down the left and the ball was worked back into the centre for Guerrero to head down and in past Sander Westerveld.
Racing were on top for the second half but they could not build on their lead and paid the price on 74 minutes as Yugoslav striker Kovacevic levelled the scores.
That was the signal for a furious assault from Real Sociedad, Racing finally buckling as Nihat got behind the defence late on.
Malaga also had the chance to move ahead of Valencia on Sunday but they were guilty of some poor defending as Espanyol made it two wins out of two since Ramon Moya took over as coach from Juande Ramos.
Malaga were 2-0 up within six minutes through a Dely Valdes penalty and a close-range Dario Silva finish. Espanyol responded with a Cyril Domoraud header but a second Silva strike restored the home side's lead with only 15 minutes on the clock.
Espanyol, who had offered little threat in the first half, came out after the break with real purpose and goals from Savo Milosevic and Raul Tamudo, from the penalty spot, put them level by the 66th minute.
Malaga pushed forward and paid the price as Maxi Rodriguez finished off an Espanyol breakaway four minutes from time.
"People are just talking about the football at this club now," said a delighted Moya. "That's doing the team a lot of good.
"We have players with quality who are also prepared to work hard. I think we'll win a few games away from home this season."