Real Sociedad took advantage of Barcelona’s hangover this Saturday. The team led by Imanol Alguacil arrived as a ‘guest’ at the Camp Nou celebration and left with a tight 1-2 thanks to goals from Merino and Sorloth and with three fundamental points in the fight for the Champions League. The goal on Lewandowski’s horn did not prevent the victory of some ‘txuri-urdin’ who lead Villarreal by five points with three games to go and who joined a party that was finally for both teams.
The party lived throughout the week, the lack of sporting objectives and the “champions, champions” of the stands. All this came together for Barcelona this Saturday in a slow-motion start to the game, to the tran tran, without haste but with pauses. And that Xavi sent a message with an eleven full of headlines, but it was not enough in a start in which Real Sociedad seemed to have one more march.
Imanol’s men, who came out with a trivote in which Illarramendi was the great novelty, won the midfield, settled on the pitch and hit the first substitutions forcefully. They did it after a loss of the ball from Koundé, more relaxed than usual, which Sorloth took advantage of to assist Mikel Merino and for him to shoot Ter Stegen at will to calm the progress of the Camp Nou and distance a little more the defensive records that the azulgrana are still looking for
Barcelona
Ter Stegen; Balde, Koundé (Marcos Alonso, min. 46), Christensen, Jordi Alba; Busquets (Eric García, min. 84), Kessié (Ansu Fati, min. 64), De Jong; Raphinha (Ferran Torres, min. 64), Lewandowski and Dembélé (Pablo Torre, min. 86)
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2
Real society
I remir; Aritz, Zubeldia (Pacheco, min. 81), Le Normand, Rico; Merino, Zubimendi, Illarramendi (Gorosabel, min. 59), Barrenetxea (Pablo Marín, min. 73); Sorloth (Carlos Fernández, min. 81) and Cho (Kubo, min. 58)
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Goals:
0-1, min.5. Merino. 0-2, min. 72. Sorloth. 1-2, min. 90. Lewandowski. -
Referee:
Javier Alberola Rojas. He admonished Zubeldia, Illarramendi, Lewandowski, Busquets, Kubo, Marcos Alonso and Frenkie de Jong. -
Incidents:
Match played at the Camp Nou in front of 88,049 spectators.
The goal acted in Barcelona as the alarm clock sound in the morning. Still sluggish, the culés took a step forward, activated their forward pressure and began to improve their circulation of the ball. They did it through Busquets, how much they will miss him, as a driving force and with two very open wingers like Raphinha and Dembélé. The Frenchman showed that he has a spark and was the great threat with a header and a shot that found Remiro’s gloves.
It was a first half in which Xavi’s men improved with the passing of the minutes but in which they still had in mind the potential of a Real that scared each of their counterattacking starts and that could extend the distance on the scoreboard if Barrenetxea would have had more aim in a one-on-one or if Ter Stegen had not saved the furniture against Ali Cho.
move the hornet’s nest
After the restart, Barça still did not find the key to destabilize a Real Sociedad with very clear ideas. Imanol’s men closed interior corridors and got the Catalans to resort again and again to lateral centers that were a real gift for Le Normand and Zubeldia, very solid throughout the clash. Faced with this scenario, Xavi moved the hornet’s nest ahead of the final stretch giving entry to Ferran Torres and Ansu Fati instead of Raphinha and Kessié, two changes that did not modify the inertia of the clash and did serve for the culés to split and the from Imanol they will find more facilities to do damage on the counterattack.
Sorloth warned with a header inside the area and it was then that the culés committed the same cardinal sin as in the first half. Frenkie de Jong lost a ball against Zubimendi and the ‘txuri-urdin’ deployed at full speed to leave Sorloth planted against Ter Stegen and settle the clash. The Norwegian this time did not forgive, defined below and ended up spoiling a party that began and ended with the cry of “champions, champions”, but in the middle he had a great game from Real Sociedad, who scored three points at the Camp Nou and took a giant step to be in the next edition of the Champions League. Lewandowski’s final goal on the horn made up a party that was, despite everything, round for both.
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