Real Sociedad kick off their 2026-27 UEFA Europa League campaign against debutants, Bournemouth.
Real Sociedad qualified for this season’s competition by winning last season’s Copa del Rey title, whilst Bournemouth secured their maiden European campaign with a sixth-placed Premier League finish.
Team News
Pablo Marin is set to return for Real Sociedad after making a recovery from a recent hamstring injury.
Igor Zubeldia (hamstring) and Alvaro Odriozola (cruciate ligament) are sidelined.
Jon Aramburu is suspended as he serves a ban carried over from Sociedad’s last Europa League campaign in the 2024-25 season, which ended in a 4-1 second leg loss at Manchester United in the Round of 16 during which he was red carded.
Bournemouth have no fresh injury concerns after their 2-2 draw against Brentford in the Premier League last weekend.
Julian Araujo (thigh), Eli Junior Kroupi (foot), Veljko Milosavljevic (knee) and Amine Adli (calf) are ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Real Sociedad host Bournemouth at Anoeta Stadium on Thursday 17 September at 9pm CEST (8pm BST), live on TNT Sports 2 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- This is Real Sociedad’s first competitive meeting against Bournemouth.
- Bournemouth are making their first competitive visit to Real Sociedad in all competitions.
- Real Sociedad are unbeaten in their last five European matches played at home in all UEFA competitions (W4, D1).
- This match marks Bournemouth’s match in any UEFA competition.
Prediction
With just one clean sheet so far this season and coming into this clash off the back of a 3-0 La Liga loss to Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad really need to knuckle down because they’ve not really shown much consistency result and performance wise yet this campaign.
Bournemouth meanwhile know that this is a journey into the unknown as a club yet they do boast some European experience within their playing squad, and have played well recently with two 2-2 draws and a 4-0 win in all competitions which will give them some belief.
I however do think that this will be a good early test for Marco Rose’s Cherries at European level and honestly can see them nicking a draw here.
Prediction: Real Sociedad 1-1 Bournemouth
Result: Real Sociedad 1-2 Bournemouth
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