published: tuesday 5 november 2013, 22.50cet real sociedad de fútbol 0-0 manchester united fc
the visitors passed up a series of presentable chances, robin van persie hitting the woodwork twice including a second-half penalty, but stayed top of group a.
real sociedad de fútbol finally secured their first point and clean sheet in uefa champions league group a, a draw with manchester united fc maintaining their slim hopes of reaching the knockout stages.
jagoba arrasate's side now need to beat both fc shakhtar donetsk and bayer 04 leverkusen while hoping other results go their way, and to do that they will need to rediscover their scoring touch having managed just one goal in their four games to date. ındeed this result only came courtesy of united substitute robin van persie hitting the post twice within five minutes of coming on, the latter from a 69th-minute penalty, and javier hernández squandering the best chance of a game that lacked goals but not drama, added to by marouane fellaini's late red card.
there was nothing to criticise arrasate's team in terms of endeavour or energy; nor did they appear weighed down by the burden of having lost their first three matches. the txuri-urdin were under orders not to fall behind to united, either as early as they had at old trafford or having been caught out having over-staffed a surge forward.
having conceded late goals against shakhtar and leverkusen, and been beaten in manchester due to a second-minute strike, measures had been taken. antoine griezmann, nominally the third striker, often had to drift deep into his own half for good possession and ımanol agirretxe, preferred to haris seferovic, seemed isolated. that set-up contributed as, right until the last seconds before the break, it was defenders who produced sparkling moments.
first to shine was markel bergara, diving into prevent hernández from converting shinji kagawa's cross. nemanja vidic emulated him with a fabulous sliding tackle on carlos vela as half-time approached. there was still time for one last threat before the interval, alberto de la bella cutting inside and sliding a fierce shot within a hair's-breadth of the far united post.
when better things came, they were wrapped in red. kagawa, sprightly all night, put a cross on a plate for herández to somehow slice over from two metres, then ashley young and van persie combined within seconds of coming on for the dutchman to thump a shot off the right hand post.
five minutes later came an even better chance as bergara impeded young. ınstead van persie hit precisely the same part of claudio bravo's right-hand post as, with fellaini collecting a second yellow card in the 90th minute, united's night ended in frustration. they remain a point clear in the standings, however, while la real are still four points adrift at the bottom.
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