Barcelona predicted lineup vs Real Sociedad: Lionel Messi starts, Griezmann on the bench
Barcelona travels to Anoeta on Sunday to face Real Sociedad as they hope to keep up the pressure on Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid in this three horse La Liga race. A win at Reale Arena will take Barcelona to 62 points, extending their league winning run to 18 games with last La Liga loss coming to Cadiz in December.
Barcelona’s opponents, Real Sociedad, are chasing the fourth spot but remain 10 points adrift of Sevilla who sit in the final Champions League spot. Barcelona come in good spirits at the Anoeta, coming off an impressive and domineering win against relegation battling Huesca.
What was once the curse of Anoeta, where Barcelona failed to register a single win against Real Sociedad from May 2007 to January 2018, has now seen them pick four points in the last two outings in the Basque region.
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The Blaugrana will be without Gerard Pique, Philippe Coutinho, Ansu Fati and Sergi Roberto. With the return of Ronald Araujo last weekend, it is expected that Frenkie de Jong will be relieved of centre back duties and will return to his natural midfield position.
Here is the Barcelona predicted lineup:
Goalkeeper: Marc-Andre ter Stegen
Unsurprisingly, Marc-Andre ter Stegen will start between the sticks. The German has kept nine clean sheets in 21 La Liga games and looks in good nick. Even though he committed a foul last game that eventually led to a Huesca penalty, ter Stegen will be confident and as always reliable. The 28 year old will want to keep the goal attempts from the likes of Mikel Oyarzabal and Alexander Isak away from the Barcelona goal