Barca breaks Anoeta curse

[Barcaman]

First time in 10 years in La Liga Barca have conquered Anoeta.
Ernesto Valverde's team came back from 2-0 on South American wings.
Paulinho, Suarez 2x and Messi were scorers for Barcelona.

Willian Jose headed Real ahead and then had a goal ruled out before Juanmi's deflected strike doubled their lead.

Paulinho slid in Suarez's cross to pull one back and the striker then levelled with a magnificent looping effort.

Suarez scored again from Thomas Vermaelen's header and Lionel Messi curled in a late free-kick.

The result leaves fourth-placed defending champions Real Madrid nearer to the relegation zone than to Barcelona. It is the first time Barca have been 19 points above Real since the penultimate day of the 1990-91 season.

Barcelona had not won a La Liga game away to Real Sociedad in a decade - picking up two points from the previous seven games - and it looked like that run was going to continue after 34 minutes.

Willian Jose's bouncing header from Xabi Prieto's cross beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen and the Brazilian then had a goal harshly ruled out because of a disputed foul on Ivan Rakitic.

They deserved to double their lead when Juanmi controlled Sergio Canales' reverse pass over the top before scoring.

But Barcelona showed great mental strength to bounce back and Paulinho gave them renewed hope going into the break when he scored from Suarez's cross.

Suarez, who has rediscovered his form after a slow start to the season, scored an excellent second - when his first-time side-footed effort from the corner of the box flew over Geronimo Rulli into the back of the net.

And Messi scored a fantastic 25-yard free-kick, which left Rulli rooted to the ground, to seal the win.

 

[SpawN]

the best moment ever for today,after 2-0 i thought it was the end but we have QUALITIES we turned back for 4-2 lead at the second half it was nice strategy change by EV and the player boosted morality

 

[Givenchy]

this game highlighted how far we've come this season. Paulinho popping up with a hugely important goal before half time, Suarez repaying the faith shown in him by Valverde now we just need Dembele to start firing and the near future atleast looks very bright

 

[JerseyAddict]

As I said... This team has confidence. Great comeback.

 

[Luftstalag14]

The best thing is that not only did we break the curse, we staged one of the best comebacks too!

Watched the extended highlights, we had many good attempts in the first half too and we never gave up even after we were down two nothing.

Really proud of our guys.

 

[Sultan]

It seemed they spent a lot of of energy in the first half pressing us all over the pitch and had they gone into the half two goals up it could’ve been difficult for us. Paulinho’s goal was crucial. Overall it was a great win and a great comeback.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

With pauli and Gomes in midfield . Simply Ev

 

[Nucky]

Finally we won there in the league. Forca!