Real Sociedad manager Imanol Alguacil has declared that captain Mikel Oyarzabal could return in time for their clash with Paris Saint-Germain. The Basque forward is facing a late fitness test to see if he will be fit for the first leg in Paris.
The Txuri-Urdin will be desperate to have their leader back for a clash which sees them in their worst moment of form. La Real have not scored in their last four matches, and have recorded just one league win in their last nine.
“[PSG] have a great team, with a squad, with a great coach and, no doubt many of them are thinking that if La Real have a great day, they could even surprise us,” Imanol Alguacil told Cadena Cope ahead of the game.
🇪🇺 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞#UCL | #WeareReal pic.twitter.com/4ZKjwYgFif
— Real Sociedad 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 (@RealSociedadEN) February 13, 2024
Alguacil spoke highly of Luis Enrique, calling him their ‘Mbappe on the bench’.
“There is no doubt that PSG has a squad to be a finalist and with a coach who also knows us very well, whom I admire a lot. I know that he is a coach who likes to push high and who likes to take the initiative, which which we like to do too.”
The big question mark for La Real is whether forward and captain Mikel Oyarzabal will be fit, as he tries to race back following a muscle injury. If Oyarzabal is not fit, then Takefusa Kubo and Ander Barrenetxea are likely to be playing off one of Umar Sadiq or Andre Silva.
“If you asked me the question after training, I could no doubt answer better… Well, tomorrow we will no longer have any doubts.”
“If he has traveled it is because he has a chance. Yesterday he was able to do a bit more, today he will no doubt do a little more than that. It will depend on how it evolves and, if there is any game in which you have to put all your effort in, it will be tomorrow’s. That’s what I can tell you.”
Real Sociedad will need to rise to the occasion againt PSG. During the group stage, La Real had the best defence in the competition, conceding just twice and going unbeaten in a group that featured finalists last year Inter. The sense is that an unreliable PSG and the Txuri-Urdin have been in different directions of travel since though. Ahead of the match Luis Enrique praised their good work and their use of academy players.
