Real held in thriller
Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira (R) scores the third goal past Real Sociedad goalkeeper Claudio Bravo during their Primera Liga encounter at the Anoeta Stadium on Sunday. Photo: AFP
Real Sociedad's hopes of qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in a decade were dealt a blow as they could only manage a 3-3 draw at home to Real Madrid on Sunday night.
Gonzalo Higuain and Jose Maria Callejon had given Jose Mourinho's men a 2-0 lead in his penultimate match in charge before a spirited fightback from Sociedad saw them level matters through Xabi Prieto and Antoine Griezmann.
Sami Khedira then put Madrid back in front 10 minutes from time, but Prieto struck again in stoppage time to at least give Sociedad a share of the spoils.
The Basques now trail Valencia by two points with just one game to play after Roberto Soldado's solitary goal was enough to earn them a 1-0 win over Granada.
Elsewhere, Barcelona kept up their charge towards 100 points with a 2-0 win at Espanyol thanks to goals in either half from Alexis Sanchez and Pedro.
Madrid were without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso in San Sebastian, but they were gifted the perfect start on six minutes when Mikel Gonzalez gifted possession to Higuain and he strolled through to slot home his 15th league goal of the season.
Imanol Agirretxe should have levelled moments later when he nipped in ahead of Ricardo Carvalho but spooned his attempted chip past Diego Lopez well over the bar.
The home side were then stunned when Madrid doubled their lead on 57 minutes when a wonderful teasing cross from Kaka was flicked in by Callejon.
However, Sociedad were given a lifeline just seven minutes later though when Khedira handled inside his own area and Prieto, who scored a hat-trick in Sociedad's 4-3 defeat to Madrid earlier in the season, comfortably slotted the ball into the bottom corner from the resulting penalty.
Griezmann then did finally get the goal his performance deserved when he prodded home Carlos Martinez's fine low cross 12 minutes from time.
Amazingly Madrid were immediately back in front when Mesut Ozil released Khedira to dink a neat finish over the advancing Claudio Bravo.
But there was on final twist as Preito struck again to give Sociedad hope of still claiming the fourth and final Champions League spot.
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