Sergio Gómez ‘breaks’ Matarazzo’s spreadsheet at Real Sociedad

Sergio Gómez is ‘breaking’ Pellegrino Matarazzo’s spreadsheet. While the Real Sociedad coach has already used 24 players across the eight matches played at the start of the 2026-27 season, rotations have been frequent because of the close proximity of fixtures and the need to manage workloads.

In that context, the left-back is the only player in the squad to have appeared in all eight starting line-ups, spanning seven LaLiga matchdays and the Europa League fixture. He began this campaign as a starter after clearly earning that status at his position last season, first under Sergio Francisco and then under Matarazzo. In his first season in San Sebastián, under Imanol Alguacil, he had been used more as a versatile player.

That consistency stands apart from the rest of the team. Twenty players have started at least once among the 24 used in the first eight matches, and rotations have affected every position, including goalkeeper, except the left side of defence. In a game where data is supposed to govern everything, Gómez therefore appears to be operating beyond the spreadsheet.

He has played 681 of the 720 possible minutes. He was only taken off with 18 minutes remaining against Betis and 21 minutes remaining against Valencia, the match in which he became a centurion with Real Sociedad at Mestalla. Those 681 minutes make him the most-used player, ahead of Jon Mikel Aramburu on 597 minutes, a gap of almost one full match.

Gómez is therefore the only player to have started all eight matches and the only one to have exceeded 600 minutes. The question now is whether he will play the five matches scheduled in just 15 days. For now, his figures suggest that he does not appear to be as constrained as the others by the spreadsheet governing the start of the season.