Valencia, despite making it to the knockout rounds of the Champions League, have struggled mightily in domestic play and Saturday afternoon only continue their slide as they lost their first home match to a Real Sociedad squad who had just one away win coming into La Mestalla.

• By Tom Conn       Follow @TomConnISF

Valencia captain, Roberto Soldado got things started from the jump, as he slid a goal into the bottom left corner from close range.

However, from that point on, It was all Real Sociedad, as they pelted the Valencia defence continually throughout the first half, dominating procession and wearing the Los Che defence down.

In the 41^st minute, the Basques got their much needed break when Valencia midfielder, Jonas was shown a straight red card for a foul on David Zurutuza, leaving Pellegrino with 10 men before the break.

It only took Sociedad two minutes to capitalize on the depleted Valencians as Zurutuza found Alberto De la Bella who fired a left footed shot from the left side of the box into the bottom right corner for the equaliser going into the break.

The second half was a battle for control as each side focused on trying to maintain a rhythm but had very few chances on goal, that was until the 58^th minute when a Xabi Prieto headed pass found Mikel Gonzalez who headed in the goal to but the Basque side up.

At the 64^th minute mark, Real Sociedad added to their advantage, exercising the demons from their early Copa del Rey elimination with a goal by Diego Ifran on a fast break, courtesy of an assist by Carlos Vela.

However, Valencia were down, but not out, as Roberto Soldado again came up big for his side, scoring a goal from a Sofiane Feghouli pass to cut the lead to one.

However, it wasn’t meant to be, as Real Sociedad rallied back scoring their fourth goal in the 83^rd minute from Imanol Agirretxe and their final goal in injury time courtesy Carlos Vela.

At the end of the game Valencia fans aired their displeasure, waving hankies and booing until every last player left the pitch.

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