Lliga | Round 19: Real Sociedad - FC Barcelona 2-4

[Horatio]

Real last season was pure luck with ramos headers/late goals.

Valverde shows what's wrong tactically at half-time and the team performs much better.

Not talking about the way Real scored, just their game rhythm tactic. Almost every game they would let the opponent dictate first 15 minutes of the first half. Then slowly if they needed the goal they would crank up the pressure and have more and more players get near the opponents box bombing it with crosses and longshots and when ball is lost put immense pressure for immediate recovery until the goal was forced.

This is why last season a lot of people said opponents start strong against Real and then seem to drop the ball. But that was just things going according to their plan.

Doesn't take away they still won a number of games through bad calls on part of referee and very poor defending from opponent in dying seconds of game.

 

[CanadianBlaugrana]

Great result! I didn’t realize FCB had not won at the Estadio Anoeta in 11 years 😮
Nice to see Messi score his 366th Barcelona goal too. Suarez’s brace of two goals was wonderful as was Paulinho right place, right time. However, watching Lionel Messi curl that ball over the wall and into the net was pure magic!

 

[PhilS]

Starting Gomes was a pretty serious mistake, RS attacked through his position for the entire game. I'd say Gomes had one of the worst defensive games I've seen from a Barca midfielder.

Some others had really tough days today. Alba, S. Roberto, Busquets, bad, bad, bad. But, some others really stepped up. Vermailen was fantastic. Suarez looked like maybe he is not done winning Golden Boots. I think he'll get 30 in Liga by the end of the season.

Paulinho came through at a critical time. I loved the way he committed his foul before the ball was passed to him, allowing the ref to not see it. His goal was pure striker excellence. Messi only did two things that will keep replaying in my dreams over and over. The pass to himself, over his head so he could volley the shot. That free kick, it must have gone 15 feet high and, what, 10 feet left of the post before it exploded down and right. That should be illegal.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

Great game entertainment-wise, great response to going 2-0 down at a very tough stadium. I'll take it.

Wonder if we can actually finish the season undefeated, at least in La Liga. Mestalla, Calderon, Bernabeu and now Anoeta are all out of the way.

Baleidos , Roseleda , Pizjuan , Rheazor .

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

I expect loss vs Eibar away, right before Chelsea away game. That's the game we want to rest most of our starting 11. Game is on Sunday and we face Chelsea Tuesday.

 

[RMU ReBorn]

Hopefully we will smash those fucking pricks from Malaga .

 

[mesiesta]

I expect loss vs Eibar away, right before Chelsea away game. That's the game we want to rest most of our starting 11. Game is on Sunday and we face Chelsea Tuesday.

I doubt that the game will be on Sunday. It should be on Saturday.

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

I doubt that the game will be on Sunday. It should be on Saturday.

Oh I was just checking from soccerway.com. That would make more sense.. Sunday sounds extremely tough.

 

[Blaugranaa]

So after City lost today, we remain the only undefeated team in Europe. That's pretty neat. Bye Pep.

Check the Portuguese league.

The good thing about Real Madrid is that they still have the chances of beating Atletico and Valencia and thereby help us.

 

[behindbrowneyes]

As someone mentioned earlier, even at 2-0 it didn't look like Barca being overrun like many times in previous years.

Would like to think even those Sociedad goals were us being complacent as there is no excuse how terrible our midfielders looked in first half.

In all fairness we should mention that Sociedad could've scored their 2nd goal earlier since that was nowhere near a foul on Rakitic. Turning around a 3-0 would've been a tough task, but no one knows if they'd scored a 3rd after scoring their 2nd earlier.

 

[Djab]

It could’ve been 3-0 really if not for Rakitiç’s dive. Dives are like antibiotics, they tend to become less effective as people use it more often, but a disgrace nevertheless.

But overall a nice display in the second half, and a lovely fighting spirit. If it was last season we would just sit down and lose it right there, but it’s not last season and we didn’t. Happy with the curse being lifted.

 

[jairzinho]

Speaking of Rakitic.

Anytime he had to control the ball anywhere near our box, my heart skipped a beat.

 

[Messi983]

In so many of the big games this season Barca start the game slowly but go up a gear in second half.

Cant be a coincidence keep doing it.

While I agree with your point I think we actually started well and were a better team before Sociedad goal. After that we falled apart but for me this was more psychological effect than bad tactics, individual performances or anything else. After conceding our players probably thought "oh, not this s*** again" and they needed time to get their heads straight again. Of course at the same time an early goal also gave Sociedad extra motivation and they deserved a second goal. Luckily for us Paulinho has scored before the half and brought us back. But even in those 25 minutes that Sociedad clearly dominated I always believed we'll get back. There is just something different about this team and yesterday they've proved it again. Not the best game but I think this was our most impressive win so far this season.

 

[FC B]

https://streamable.com/vg0vu

Amazing

& cool reaction from the commentator.