Girona hosted Real Sociedad at Montilivi at 8:00 p.m. on 14 May 2026 in a fixture that arrives with both teams carrying five consecutive league games without a win.
For Girona the game is more than a run-breaking chance: the team needed a victory to keep alive its hope of salvation with three La Liga matches left, and arrived on the night bottom of a five-way tie on 39 points that existed before the matches played the previous day.
The arithmetic is stark. Real Sociedad had already secured European qualification and won the Copa, but their league form has been poor — the side had not won since 4 April, when it beat Levante 2-0, and its last five league matches yielded two points from a possible 15. Girona’s position had been worsened by recent wins from rivals Alavés, Levante, Espanyol and Sevilla.
Real Sociedad made selection and fitness moves that reshaped their available options for Montilivi. Coach Rino Matarazzo recovered Zubeldia, Karrika and Aramburu for the match, but faced absences: Oskarsson was suspended and Guedes, Rupérez and Odriozola were injured. Gorka Carrera was again included in the squad as an alternative for Real Sociedad's attack.
The match was overseen on the field by referee Miguel Sesma with Carlos del Cerro Grande in the VAR room. A preview of the fixture was published in COPE at 11:19 on 14 May 2026.
Matarazzo framed the preparations in blunt terms, saying: "para que ya nadie hable del descenso." That line underlined how the fixture was being discussed from Girona’s survival perspective as well as Real Sociedad’s search for form despite cup success and European qualification.
The contrast between the clubs provides the evening’s tension. Real Sociedad arrive with trophies and guaranteed continental football but limp league numbers; Girona arrive needing three points to keep realistic hopes of avoiding relegation, and having been leapfrogged by several rivals in recent rounds. Both facts can be true at once — a team can be successful in cup competition and stalled in the league — and that contradiction shapes how each side approaches Montilivi.
That contradiction also opens tactical and psychological questions that matter now. Girona need a win to change the immediate math of the relegation fight; Real Sociedad need to arrest a slump that has produced just two points since April. The referee appointments and the availability list — recovered starters, suspended personnel and injured regulars — set the match-day contours but do not resolve whether one side’s motivation will overcome the other’s urgent need.
Tonight’s result will have clear consequences: only a victory gives Girona the practical chance to keep its survival bid alive with three matches remaining, while a draw or defeat would leave the club still trapped at the foot of a tightly packed table. For Real Sociedad, failing to win would extend a worrying league sequence that sits uneasily beside recent cup and European success.
