Real Sociedad vs Sheriff Tiraspol

Real Sociedad will be looking to maintain their sensational Europa League start when they take on Sheriff Tiraspol at the Reale Arena.

Fresh from beating fellow La Liga top-four hopefuls Villarreal 1-0 at the weekend, high-flying Real Sociedad are looking to solidify their spot at the top of Europa League Group E. A morale-boosting 1-0 triumph at Manchester United on day one was just the beginning, as ‘La Real’ won two subsequent European matches to assert control in this group. Sociedad’s stellar Group E start is in stark contrast to their previous Europa League form that had seen them go winless in eight straight outings in the competition (D4, L4). Coming into this showdown, Imanol Alguacil’s men have won five consecutive games across all competitions, including a 2-0 victory over Sheriff in the reverse leg. On top of that, they’ve won their last three competitive home fixtures via a single-goal margin.

In the meantime, Sheriff Tiraspol’s Group E campaign was off to a flyer as they thumped Omonia Nicosia 3-0 on day one but have since lost back-to-back Europa League games via an identical 2-0 scoreline. Though a 1-0 win away to fellow domestic rivals Dinamo-Auto at the weekend helped them bounce back from last week’s home fiasco against Sociedad, the ‘Yellow-Blacks’ may need a miracle to win in San Sebastian and keep their hopes of making it out of the group stages alive. No strangers to playing down the odds, Sheriff picked up a historic 2-1 win against Real Madrid on their only previous visit to Spain. That may serve as a source of inspiration for Stjepan Tomas’ men as they could win back-to-back away matches in major European competitions for the first time ever.