Barcelona vs Real Sociedad: Barcelona on Saturday scripted a fantastic win against Real Sociedad in a La Liga encounter. Barcelona defender Ronald Araujo scored the only goal of the match from a head in the 92nd minute to help Xavi’s men get back into the title race after the defeat in El Clasico last weekend.
Alguacil has made two alterations from his side’s last La Liga outing against Rayo Vallecano. Jon Pacheco failed to make the matchday squad due to injury, so Le Normand came into the starting XI at the back. La Real also welcomed Merino back into the midfield, as Turrientes was forced to settle for a place on the bench.
Meanwhile, Xavi also made just two changes from the side that lost to Real Madrid last time out. It was a return to the starting XI for Kounde who has been missing for almost a month through injury, and he replaced Christensen in defence. There was also an alteration in attack for Barcelona, with Lewandowski coming in from the start after being brought off the bench as a substitute against Madrid. Torres was the one who made way.
Sociedad had the better of the chances and were unfortunate not to have broken the deadlock in the first half. The lack of creativity from Xavi’s side was disappointing to watch with La Real looking like they could score with every attack. Alguacil’s men had tested Ter Stegen with eight shots in the first half itself, with four of them being on target.
The hosts started the second half well too, but poor finishing cost them. Barcelona had some chances too but looked the second-best team in the field all evening. However, all that changed in the 93rd minute when defender Araujo headed in from an inch-perfect lofted pass by Ikay Gundogan. Barca moved to the third place of the La Liga table behind Real Madrid with 27 points from 12 games.
Barcelona vs Real Sociedad XI
Barcelona XI – Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Inigo Martínez, Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo; Alejandro Balde, Ilkay Gundogan, Gavi, Joao Cancelo; Fermin Lopez; Joao Felix, Robert Lewandowski.
Real Sociedad XI – Alex Remiro; Aihen Munoz, Robin Le Normand, Igor Zubeldia, Hamari Traore; Mikel Merino, Martin Zubimendi, Brais Mendez; Ander Barrenetxea, Mikel Oyarzabal, Takefusa Kubo.
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