Barcelona defeated Real Sociedad 1-0 at Anoeta on Saturday to move into third place in La Liga, four points behind the leaders. Barcelona should have lost after being outplayed in the first half, but Ronald Araujo’s header in the 92nd minute secured three vital points.
First Half
The home team pressed hard in the first few minutes and created many scoring chances, but Barça’s defense made mistakes. Three Marc-André ter Stegen saves and a Mikel Merino box header miss gave Barça the lead after 15 minutes.
Visitors survived the early storm in 15 minutes. Although João Cancelo made several good offensive moves, his outside-the-box efforts were unsuccessful.
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Ter Stegen and Barça stopped many of Sociedad’s dangerous crosses into the box, despite being the better team and a threat in the final third with their movement and passing.
Sociedad dominated the first half and had many scoring chances, but Barça kept a clean sheet. The halftime whistle saved the visitors. Xavi Hernández’s outnumbered troops needed to improve in the final minutes to win.
Second Half
Xavi’s team talk helped Barça start well and beat Sociedad despite not changing at halftime. Barça’s first-time threat forced La Real to defend deep in their own half. Barcelona had more forward movement and ball possession in the first 10 minutes. Ferran Torres and Pedri boosted the attack after Xavi’s hour-long substitution. After the adjustments failed, Xavi added Raphinha and Lamine Yamal in the final 20 minutes to boost Barça’s offense.
Sociedad looked tired in the final ten minutes, and Barça struggled to attack and pass. Since this game appeared to be a draw, there was little excitement.
Barça looked well-oiled and had two scoring chances after that. After assisting Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres hit the crossbar, resulting in Gavi losing to Álex Remiro.
Barça’s offside goal came from Ronald Araujo’s flawless run into the box. The winner got another shot. The Ilkay Gündogan flypast was amazing.
Gündogan and Ter Stegen gave Barça three points. Last week, Barça won El Clásico in the final seconds despite not deserving it. Football is beautiful because of it.
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