Catalan side Barcelona came back from going 1-0 down to beat high-flying Real Sociedad 2-1 on Wednesday at the Camp Nou and come to within six points of top of the La Liga table.
The hosts took control of the opening 25 minutes without actually testing Alex Remiro in the visiting goal from any of their initial six attempts.
Sociedad were not that wasteful. With their first attempt on target, William Jose converted Christian Portu’s cut back from a corner for the visitors and Barca found themselves behind against the run of play.
But, they drew level four minutes later. Tireless left back Jordi Alba seized on a loose ball and let fly with his right past a hapless Alex Remiro in the Sociedad goal.
It could have been two for the Blaugrana but after Antoine Griezmann danced his way past the defence and the goalkeeper, he watched in awe as the ball cannoned back off the bar, and Martin Braithwaite fired over from Pedri’s lay off.
Barca piled on the pressure nonetheless, looking for the advantage. The pressure worked. Alba, again in the thick of things, sent a low cross in that deflected kindly for Frenkie De Jong to finish, with VAR overturning the referee’s earlier offside decision.
Even though Sociedad came into the second period with more urgency, they were lucky to not see the deficit increase. Griezmann again was not having the most fortunate of days as he somehow turned the ball away from a clear opportunity after he slid to meet Alba’s cross.
A timely Pedri intervention denied Alexander Isak a great chance to level when bearing down on goal, and Barca goalie Marc-Andre ter Stegen did brilliantly to stop the striker, after palming a shot into his path late on.
Barca held on to win and the result lifts them to within six points of leaders Atletico, La Real and Real Madrid, in what is becoming a title race to watch.
Barca next host Valencia on Saturday, with Sociedad heading to Levante on the same day.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
