Espanyol and Real Sociedad closed out the LaLiga EA Sports season on Sunday with two lineups shaped by different pressures and one possible farewell. Manolo González changed his goalkeeper and kept only four players from the Osasuna match as Espanyol lined up Fortuño, Rubén Sánchez, Calero, Cabrera, Carlos Romero, Urko, Edu Expósito, Jofre, Antoniu, Ramón Terrats and Roberto.
For Urko, the start carried a small full-circle feel. He joined Espanyol this summer after spending half a year on loan at the club, and González kept him in the side alongside Cabrera, Carlos Romero and Edu Expósito from the previous match. Carlos Romero may also have been playing his last match as an Espanyol player before returning to Villarreal after two loan seasons in Catalonia, giving the home team’s selection an added edge beyond the final scoreline.
Real Sociedad arrived with its own controlled changes. Matarazzo kept five players from the previous match — Remiro, Zubeldia, Turrientes, Soler and Oskarsson — and named a side of Remiro, Aramburu, Beitia, Zubeldia, Sergio Gómez, Yangel Herrera, Turrientes, Carlos Soler, Sucic, Ochieng and Oskarsson. His own words framed the mood before kickoff, saying it would be good to finish the season with a smile, with a win and the sense that the team had been a good one.
The stakes were plain for the visitors. If Real Sociedad failed to take points, it would match its worst league total since the 2010-11 promotion season, finishing on 45 points. The final day left little room for drift, and the lineup reflected that balance between continuity and the need for a result.
There was also a race inside the broader season narrative. Mikel Oyarzabal had scored 15 goals and was chasing the Trofeo Zarra, while Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres led the competition with 16 goals each. That individual chase sat beside the team targets, and it gave the match another layer as the curtain came down on the league campaign.
For Espanyol, the night was about sorting through endings as much as starting points. For Real Sociedad, it was about avoiding an unwanted statistical mark and trying to leave the season on a better note than the numbers threatened to suggest.
