Barcelona beat Real Sociedad in a scrappy game
Real Sociedad had a bittersweet couple of hours as club legend Imanol Agirretxe bid farewell to the supporters, but they had a moment to celebrate in the inaugural match at the revamped Anoeta, but La Real undeservedly lost to Barcelona.
Real Sociedad took the lead in the 13th minute through a sweetly struck volley by Aritz Elustondo. Sergi Roberto was penalised for a controversial foul, and a lofted ball from Mikel Oyarbazal was headed down for Elustondo to sweep home at the near post.
Barcelona were very poor in the first half. The unfamiliar midfield trio consisting of Ivan Rakitić in the pivot role, Rafinha on the left and Sergi Roberto on the right, was not creative at all. Ousmane Dembélé couldn’t retain the ball, while Lionel Messi hardly saw the ball.
But after Philippe Coutinho replaced Nélson Semedo, and Sergi Roberto moved back to his usual position, Ernesto Valverde started to push players forward. The team loaded the pressure on Sociedad, but that meant that the backline was exposed.
In the early stages of the second half, Marc-André ter Stegen was called upon twice. The German goalkeeper showed that he is one of the best in the world, showing great positioning to save two shots at his near post.
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Barça finally equalised through Luis Suárez in the 63th minute, who showed a real poacher’s instinct to jump on an easy opportunity after a poor clearance by Gerónimo Rulli following a corner by Leo Messi.
The side took the lead just three minutes through another mistake by Rulli. The Argentine shot-stopper made a brilliant save off a curler from Philippe Coutinho. But in the subsequent corner, he again made a hash of the clearance, putting the ball at the feet of Ousmane Dembélé.
The young Frenchman shot in the general direction of the goal, and it was deflected twice before it went in, thus giving Barcelona the lead. Real Sociedad threatened many times after this, especially through Juanmi, but couldn’t find a breakthrough.
The club had many other opportunities, mostly of which fell to Gerard Piqué and Lionel Messi, but they couldn’t finish. It was a scrappy, but professional performance, with players like Rafinha and Sergi Roberto failing to impress, but Philippe Coutinho shining yet again.
This will not give the side much momentum going into its first Champions League match-up against former European champions PSV Eindhoven, but Ernesto Valverde needs to make do.