September 28, (THEWILL) — Barcelona mounted their second comeback victory of the week, defeating Real Sociedad 2-1 at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on Sunday.
Manager Hansi Flick fielded an experimental lineup featuring just four regular starters, giving official debuts to 17-year-old Dro Fernández whilst Roony Bardghji earned his second club appearance.
The visitors employed a compact midfield strategy to restrict Barcelona’s central play, forcing the hosts to seek opportunities through wide areas.
Real Sociedad broke the deadlock on 31 minutes when Ander Barrenetxea escaped Jules Koundé’s attention down the flank, delivering a precise low cross for Mikel Oyarzabal to convert from close range.
Barcelona had earlier spurned a clear opening when Marcus Rashford was denied by goalkeeper Álex Remiro, who produced an outstanding save to prevent the England forward from opening the scoring.
The hosts responded before the interval when Koundé rose unmarked to head home Rashford’s corner delivery, levelling proceedings at 1-1.
Lamine Yamal made his first appearance since August just after the restart, immediately impacting the match by providing the assist for Robert Lewandowski’s winning goal.
The young winger evaded Sergio Gómez before delivering a perfect cross that Lewandowski converted with a precise header.
Barcelona continued pressing for further goals despite taking the lead, with Remiro producing several crucial saves to keep his side competitive.
The match reached a dramatic conclusion when Takefusa Kubo struck the crossbar for the visitors, before Lewandowski also hit the woodwork from point-blank range just seconds later following excellent approach play from Yamal and Ferran Torres.
The victory maintains Barcelona’s unbeaten record through seven matches of the 2024/2025 campaign, moving them above Real Madrid to claim top position in La Liga.
Flick’s rotation policy and injury concerns meant wholesale changes to the starting XI, yet the team showed the character necessary to overturn another deficit and extend their impressive early-season form.
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.
