Livescore
It should be no surprise that Robin Le Normand started Real Sociedad‘s preseason finale against Real Betis at Oracle Park. Of course he did — even in preseason, Le Normand is the anchor of La Real‘s defense.
Le Normand, who recently committed to play for the Spanish national team over France, is poised to lead Real Sociedad back into the UEFA Champions League this season — and like most everything he does on the pitch, he’s taking on the responsibility calmly and decisively.
Le Normand: “We have a group that wants to improve”
Speaking in San Francisco on Friday, Le Normand didn’t indicate that Real Sociedad are satisfied with finishing fourth in LaLiga a season ago, which secured Champions League soccer for the first time in 10 years.
“(Our objective) is to have the same squad dynamic that we’ve had in recent years,” he told the media. “We have a group, a block that we know and we want to improve. We’ll see if we can do it. The important thing is to play the same way, and then try to qualify for European competitions. It’s not going to be easy.”
Le Normand has been central to the La Real resurgence of the past few years. The 6’2” central defender has made at least 30 league starts in each of the past three seasons — and the Txuri-Urdin have qualified for European competition in each of those three seasons.
One of La Real’s leaders
Head coach Imanol Alguacil will count on Le Normand‘s reliability and consistency as the season begins, and the 26-year-old’s leadership was on display in the preseason finale against Betis.
Le Normand was at the heart of a unit that held Los Verdiblancos to just one shot attempt in the 80 minutes he played at Oracle Park. Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini named a strong 11, but talented players like Isco, Juanmi, and Luiz Henrique were unable to pick the lock.
Imanol said Friday that he wanted his side to end the preseason well, ready to begin the new league season strongly. The 1-0 victory over Betis — in addition to the goalless draw in Mexico against Atletico de Madrid — gives the coach a defensive platform to build from when the season begins at home to Girona next Saturday.
“Youv’e seen the last two games, against powerful rivals. And the team comes out of this tour without conceding a goal, having played very good minutes against Atletico and I think today they were better than Betis, a great rival with very good players and a great coach.”
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