SOCIEDAD’S NEAR MISS

In the conversation of potent strike partnerships, history tends to forget Darko Kovacevic and Nihat Kahveci. They didn’t win anything together, after all – but with two matches left of the 2002- 03 La Liga campaign, it looked like the duo’s goals may well propel Real Sociedad to Spain’s biggest prize.

April had witnessed the team’s defining moment: a 4- 2 hammering of title rivals Real Madrid at the Anoeta, with all of their goals registered before half- time. Former Sheffield Wednesday frontman Kovacevic had netted twice, Nihat once, while local boy Xabi Alonso saved the best until last with a 33rd- minute corker.

But scooping silverware is a marathon to the end – and Raynald Denoueix’s players didn’t quite have the minerals to pass the line. Dropped points against Valencia with three games to go had been a warning for the Basques, but a defeat to Celta Vigo in their penultimate outing proved fatal; at the same time, Real Madrid were pumping Atletico 4- 0 to overtake them at the top.

Nihat and Kovacevic buffed their league tallies to 23 and 20 respectively thanks to a final- day ( curiously, as late as June 22) rout of their own against the Rojiblancos, but Vicente del Bosque’s big bad Blancos were already home and dry for the second of four titles during the decade. File under what might have been.