Camp Nou Stadium opened its doors for this crucial match between FC Barcelona and Real Sociedad in La Liga. We have player ratings.
Last weekend’s victory was a breath of fresh air for FC Barcelona but they needed to confirm their good moment against Real Sociedad. The Catalan club is slowly going back to an acceptable level of performance and today was key for their title aspirations. They were facing the leaders of this season’s La Liga campaign at Camp Nou Stadium. Real Sociedad has been proving we are in the presence of a competitive squad that is willing to go the distance to get far in the competition.
But Ronald Koeman’s requests were pretty clear from the start: they needed to score as many goals as possible before half time. This time, there were some great performances from Jordi Alba, Frenkie De Jong, Messi, and Antoine Griezmann from the get go. William Jose got ahead in the scoreboard but that only got the Catalan club’s players more involved in the game.
De Jong seals the victory for Barcelona.
It took Barcelona only a few minutes to respond to the initial goal from Real Sociedad, Jordi alba scored with a potent shot to the top corner. Messi orchestrated the whole play and the Catalan full-back finished it in style. Before half time, Alba himself served the ball for Frenkie de Jong to score the second goal of the evening for Barcelona.
Although they weren’t able to score more during the second half, this was a great test of character for Ronald Koeman’s players. A victory that leaves FC Barcelona with 20 points in fifth place and two pending matches compared to the rest of the competitors.
Player ratings
FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen (7), Alba (8), Mingueza (6), Araujo (6), Dest (6), Busquets (6), De Jong (7), Pedri (7), Messi (7), Griezmann (8), Braithwaite (6).
Bench: Trincao (6), Alena (6), Pjanic (6), Lenglet (5).
Real Sociedad: Remiro (5), Monreal (5), Gorosabel (5), Le Normand (6), Januzaj (5), Merino (6), Zubeldia (6), Guevara (6), Zubimendi (6), Jose (7), Portu (6).
Bench: Barrenetxea (5), Navarro (5), Isak (5), Sagnan (5).
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