Spanish La Liga Real Sociedad forward Takefusa Kubo scored a brace, including the game-winning goal, against his hometown team. A local newspaper called Kubo’s performance “beautiful.”
Kubo started and played the entirety of the 25th round of the 2023-24 La Liga against RCD Mallorca at Estadio Mallorca Son Moix in Mallorca, Spain, on Monday morning (Jan. 19), leading his team to a 2-1 victory.
Gubo rattled the net with a powerful left-footed shot from inside the box after a solo dribble down the right flank in the 38th minute with his team trailing 1-0. It was Gubo’s seventh goal of the season. It ended a five-match goal drought in all competitions for the club. Sociedad pulled off a dramatic comeback with a late Mikel Merino header. With their 10th win in the league (W10 D5 L5), they are now in sixth place with 40 points.
According to soccer stats site Futbol, Gubo completed 85% of his passes (33 attempts/39 successful), created two chances, had one shot on target, won three dribbles, made five recoveries, and won seven ground balls in the 90 minutes. She was also a threat from the perimeter, drawing fouls on four occasions. She was also named the Secretariat’s Most Valuable Player.
The same day, the Japanese edition of Yahoo cited a report from the Sociedad local as saying, “Kubo can create chances for himself. He made a beautiful play and scored a great goal.”
For Kubo, it was his first offensive point in a long time. He started the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup in Qatar earlier this month, where he scored one goal and provided one assist in five games before the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals. An injury shortly before his call-up slowed him down.
Upon his return to the team, he struggled in his first two games, drawing one and losing one. However, he was able to help his team to victory that day. His “no-seremony” during the game was also a talking point. Gubo has been with Mallorca for two seasons, starting in the 2021-22 season. It was during this time that he also played with Lee Kang-in. He scored six goals and provided eight assists in 67 games for Mallorca. He scored a spectacular equalizer on this day, but he didn”t forget to honor his hometown team.
