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FC Barcelona travel to Real Sociedad in the Copa del Rey Quarterfinals

By Benjamin Barkworth

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JANUARY 14: FC Barcelona players pose for a team picture prior to the kick-off during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and UD Las Palmas at Camp Nou stadium on January 14, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - JANUARY 14: FC Barcelona players pose for a team picture prior to the kick-off during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and UD Las Palmas at Camp Nou stadium on January 14, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) /
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Barcelona have a tough game as they travel to the Anoeta Stadium to take on Real Sociedad.

Form

The Catalans are starting to gather some momentum after their loss against Athletic Bilbao at the start of the calendar year. Since then, Barcelona have gone three games unbeaten with nine goals scored and two conceded. This included a tough away league game against Villarreal and an important home game against Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey. Real Sociedad have had a mixed start to the year with two wins, a draw and a loss. These games include a 3-1 win against Villarreal at home, and a 1-1 draw away with the same opponent. However, they also lost 4-0 to Sevilla at home, so the Anoeta Stadium isn’t a fortress.

 Squads

More from Analysis

Rafinha recently picked up a hamstring injury, which rules him out for this game. Aside from that, they have no injuries to major players. However, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Aleix Vidal and Jeremy Mathieu have all been left out of the matchday squad due to ‘technical reasons‘. In contrast to this, Sociedad have injuries to a few key players. Carlos Vela, Mikel González, Carlos Martínez, and Joseba Zaldúa are all out for this match. Vela’s absence is a major blow because of his creative influence in the team.

Next: Injury update for the Sociedad match

History

Recent history has seen Barcelona struggle against the team from Basque Country. The Anoeta Stadium is one of the few places Luis Enrique hasn’t won at since becoming Barça manager. In fact, the last time Barcelona won here was all the way back in 2007. This fixture seems to favour whoever is playing at home with eight out of the last ten matches going that way. In terms of goals, ten have been scored in five games and twenty-eight in ten games. There hasn’t been a 0-0 draw since 2005, so expect goals.

Related Story: 3 Things We Learned from the previous match against Sociedad

Playing Style

Real Sociedad play in a similar style to Barça because they like to dominate possession. They also like to stay high up the pitch, and play combination football around the opposition box. Whenever these two, Barcelona struggle to assert control over the match which disrupts their style severely. This is what happened when they last played, and they were lucky to come away with a point because Sociedad dominated the majority of the match.

In that game, they didn’t have Andrés Iniesta, and Sergio Busquets wasn’t playing at his best. These are two crucial factors because Busquets is the metaphorical heart of the team due to everything going through him. Also, Barcelona have had a significant upturn in the quality of their performances and results since Iniesta returned from injury. With these two at their best, they should be able to inspire Barça to a crucial away win. However, it will be a tough game because Sociedad always provide problems for Barcelona when they are playing at home.

Prediction: Real Sociedad 1-2 FC Barcelona

Predicted Squad

A strong lineup is likely due to the difficulty of the opponents.