2012–13 Real Sociedad season

Real Sociedad
2012–13 season
Chairman Jokin Aperribai
Manager Philippe Montanier
Stadium Anoeta Stadium
La Liga 4th
Copa del Rey Round of 32
Top goalscorer League:
Carlos Vela (14)
All:
Carlos Vela (14)
Imanol Agirretxe (14)
Home colours
Away colours

The 2012–13 season was Real Sociedad's 67th season in La Liga. The club's league campaign surpassed all expectations as 4th spot was achieved and the team qualified for the Champions league play-off round.

Season summary

Real Sociedad's progression during the 2012-13 season.

The season began with mixed results. A series of home wins and away defeats were reminiscent of previous season's frustration. A convincing win in the Basque derby was the only exception during this disappointing period. Early in November, the club suffered a Copa del Rey defeat away to Segunda División side Córdoba. This was followed by a league defeat at home against 19th-ranked team Espanyol. With the match still in play, fans at the stadium called for Montanier's resignation.

In the Copa del Rey, the team was incapable of overturning the first leg's deficit and exited the competition.

An exceptional run

With an away victory to Málaga, Real Sociedad began a run that stretched from mid-November to the end of the season where the team suffered only two defeats. The team found stability with a 4–2–3–1 formation comprising Asier Illarramendi and Markel Bergara in the double 6 and Xabi Prieto just ahead of them as an attacking midfielder.

Race for fourth

In April, it became clear that either Real Sociedad or Valencia would capture the fourth-place spot. On 28 April, a decisive match between these two took place at Anoeta. Real Sociedad was capable of coming back and won the match, thus opening a five-point gap with Valencia. In the following weeks, however, Valencia won three-straight games while Real Sociedad dropped points. Before the last matchday, Real Sociedad were two points behind Valencia and had to travel to relegation-threatened Deportivo de La Coruña. Real Sociedad won their match and Valencia lost theirs, sending the Basque team to fourth place and securing a spot at the UEFA Champions League play-off round.

Real Sociedad scored 70 goals that season, more than any other club bar Real Madrid and Barcelona and had the fourth-best defence.

Towards the end of the season, when it seemed like Philippe Montanier was about to renew his contract, he signed a contract with Rennes instead.[1] Montanier was awarded the Ramón Cobo trophy, given to the best manager, by the Royal Spanish Football Federation's coaches committee.[2]

League table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
3 Atlético Madrid 38 23 7 8 65 31 +34 76 2013–14 UEFA Champions League Group stage
4 Real Sociedad 38 18 12 8 70 49 +21 66 2013–14 UEFA Champions League Play-off round
5 Valencia 38 19 8 11 67 54 +13 65 2013–14 UEFA Europa League group stage

Source: La Liga
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd head-to-head points; 3rd head-to-head goal difference; 4th goal difference; 5th number of goals scored; 7th Fair-play points
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Dispute over TV broadcasting rights

Early in 2012, Real Sociedad filed lawsuit against Mediapro on the grounds that payments were not in time or were incomplete.[3] This escalated to a legal case that was eventually won by Real Sociedad. The media group was told to pay what had been established in the contract and €7 million as compensation. Real Sociedad was in addition declared free to sign a broadcasting contract with whoever they wanted to.[4] Weeks before the start of the new season Real Sociedad agreed a 3-year deal with Canal +.[5] Mediapro appealed this decision and in May a provincial court declared that the infringement was not serious enough to justify the €7 million compensation. Real Sociedad had to refund this amount. [6]

Transfers

Players leaving the club (summer)

Player New Team Fee
Spain Mikel Aranburu Retired End of contract
Spain Borja Viguera Spain Alavés End of contract
Spain Toño Ramírez Spain Guadalajara End of contract
Norway Vadim Demidov Germany Eintracht Frankfurt[7] €500,000 [8]

Loan out

Player Team
Spain Joseba Llorente Spain Osasuna[9][10]
Netherlands Jeffrey Sarpong Spain Hércules

Loan end

Player To
Mexico Carlos Vela England Arsenal

Players leaving the club (winter)

Player New Team Fee
Netherlands Jeffrey Sarpong Contract rescinded [11]

Players joining the club (summer)

Signings

Player From Fee
Uruguay Chory Castro Spain Mallorca Free agent
Mexico Carlos Vela England Arsenal[12]

Loan in

Player From
Spain José Ángel Italy Roma[13]

Loan return

Player From
Netherlands Jeffrey Sarpong Netherlands NAC Breda

Squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Chile GK Claudio Bravo
2 Spain DF Carlos Martínez
3 Spain DF Mikel González
4 Spain MF Gorka Elustondo
5 Spain MF Markel Bergara
6 Spain DF Iñigo Martínez
7 France MF Antoine Griezmann
8 Spain MF Asier Illarramendi
9 Spain FW Imanol Agirretxe
10 Spain MF Xabi Prieto
11 Mexico FW Carlos Vela
13 Spain GK Eñaut Zubikarai
No. Position Player
14 Spain MF Rubén Pardo
15 Spain DF Ion Ansotegi
16 Netherlands MF Jeffrey Sarpong
17 France MF David Zurutuza
18 Uruguay MF Chory Castro
19 Algeria DF Liassine Cadamuro-Bentaïba
20 Spain DF José Ángel
21 Uruguay FW Diego Ifrán
22 Spain DF Dani Estrada
23 Spain MF Javi Ros
24 Spain DF Alberto de la Bella

[14]

Start formations

Starting XI

Lineup that started most of the club's competitive matches throughout the season.

Matches

Legend

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Pre-season

La Liga

Copa del Rey

Sources

  1. ↑ "Philippe Montanier, prochain entraîneur du Stade Rennais F.C." (in French). staderennais.com/. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 1 June 2013.
  2. ↑ "Philippe Montanier, galardonado con el 'Premio Ramón Cobo' como mejor entrenador de Primera en 2012-13" (in Spanish). europapress.es. 8 October 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "La Real Sociedad demanda a Mediapro por impagos" (in Spanish). Realsociedad.com. 14 March 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "La Real Sociedad demanda a Mediapro por impagos" (in Spanish). El Mundo Deportivo. 30 July 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Acuerdo con el operador DTS para la cesión de los derechos audiovisuales" (in Spanish). Realsociedad.com. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  6. ↑ "La Audiencia Provincial se pronuncia sobre el conflicto entre Mediapro y la Real Sociedad" (in Spanish). Realsociedad.com. 17 May 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  7. ↑ "Transfer perfekt: Demidov wechselt zur Eintracht" (in German). Eintracht Frankfurt. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  8. ↑ "La Real cierra el traspaso de Demidov al Eintracht por medio millón de euros" (in Spanish). El Diario Vasco. 24 July 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  9. ↑ Joseba Llorente loaned to Osasuna ; Realsociedad.com
  10. ↑ Joseba Llorente will play for Osasuna this season ; osasuna.es
  11. ↑ "Acuerdo para la rescisión del contrato de Sarpong" (in Spanish). Realsociedad.com. January 7, 2012.
  12. ↑ http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/carlos-vela-finalises-real-sociedad-switch Archived 2012-08-12 at the Wayback Machine.: "Carlos Vela finalises Real Sociedad switch." Arsenal.com. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  13. ↑ José Angel loaned to Real Sociedad ; Realsociedad.com
  14. ↑ Definite shirt numers fort the 2012-13 season announced ; realsociedad.com
  15. ↑ El Córdoba aprovecha el mal de la Real Sociedad fuera de casa (in Spanish)
  16. ↑ Fuera de la Copa (Real Sociedad 2-2 Córdoba) (in Spanish)
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