Our goalless draw against Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey semi-final means it is all to play for in the return fixture in San Sebastián.
Javier Aguirre continued to use Dominik Grief in goal for the cup competition, while the boss also opted to pair Abdón with Cyle Larin in attack.
A tense start eventually saw Abdón catch sight of goal in the 28th minute, but the forward’s first-time strike went wide of the post.
Sadiq Umar came close for the visitors 10 minutes later, but the forward headed over the bar from close range.
Sergi Darder’s ambitious first-time volley from 25-yards out was the final action of the first half as his effort went wide and we headed into the break goalless.
Abdón almost gave us the lead in the 52nd minute after a positive period of play after the restart, but our striker’s first-time hit from the edge of the box was inches away from finding the bottom corner.
Real Sociedad almost provided an instant response as a deflected cross found Umar in the box, but he was unable to direct a powerful loose ball goalwards a minute later.
Grief then had to be at full stretch to deny Brais Méndez from range before Umar followed up and fired wide.
Take Kubo almost came back to haunt us when is mazy run teed up Umar who fired over the bar from yards out in the 71st minute in what was the game’s best chance to opening the scoring.
The visitors went on the offensive in a desperate search to find the winner, but we reduced Real Sociedad to just a handful of chances to set up a second leg with a place in the final at stake.
