BERLIN, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Leipzig came back twice and played out a 2-2 stalemate in front of the home crowd by courtesy of Emil Forsberg's late penalty at the Europa League playoffs on Thursday.
The visitors from Spain caught a perfect start on the road and shocked Leipzig in the early stages as unmarked Robin Le Normand latched on Diego Rico's cross to the far post in the 8th minute.
Sociedad ceased its offensive actions and kept all its men behind the ball allowing Leipzig to take the reins.
The hosts eventually restored parity at the half-hour mark when Jose Angelino had all time and space on the right-wing before curling the ball into Sociedad's box where Christopher Nkunku headed home the equalizer from a central position.
Real Sociedad remained unimpressed and grabbed the lead once again at the hour mark as the video assistant referee saw a handball by Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol inside the box following a corner. Mikel Oyarzabal stepped up and converted the subsequent penalty to give the visitors the 2-1 lead.
Sociedad defended deep and drove the hosts to desperation but a controversial foul play penalty in the 82nd minute allowed substitute Forsberg to equalize the scores with a well-placed shot into the bottom left corner.
The "Bulls" thought they had snatched a comeback victory in the dying minutes of the game, but Andre Silva's goal was ruled disallowed due to an offside position from teammate Benjamin Henrichs.
"The two-all draw is very important for us. Of course, we would have liked to secure a first-leg win, but we had to rally back twice. I think the draw is overall deserved although our late penalty is lucky," said Leipzig's head coach Domenico Tedesco.
"We didn't start well and made too many mistakes. We bounced back twice and were the better team over 90 minutes. Sociedad staged a well-positioned defense and gave us a hard time," Leipzig's striker Emil Forsberg said. ■
