WHAT A MATCH!!!
The return of La Liga gave us a fantastic match between Barcelona and Real Sociedad, who traded haymakers at the Anoeta for 90 minutes until the final whistle came in what might just be the most entertaining game of the weekend in Spain. In the end it was Barça who came back from a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1 on the day, and the Blaugrana have now won three straight games away to La Real. It’s now safe to say the Anoeta Curse is most definitely broken.
FIRST HALF
Barça started the game playing well, dominating possession and establishing themselves in Sociedad’s half of the pitch. But the hosts had a set piece and found a goal when Aritz Elustondo fired a rocket into the back of the net in what was a super goal.
The Blaugrana were behind and needed to create, but La Real was very comfortable defending with many players behind the ball and made things tough for the Catalans. Ousmane Dembélé and Jordi Alba were very active on the left wing, and Barça’s most dangerous moves came from that side. Gerard Piqué and Luis Suárez had penalty shouts denied by VAR, and Barça just could not find a goal in the first half.
At halftime, the champions were playing well, but needed a bit more creativity in the final third to create chances and score the winning goals.
SECOND HALF
Ernesto Valverde started the second half with a bold substitution, taking off full-back Nélson Semedo and bringing on Philippe Coutinho to add a more creative, dynamic player in midfield and have Sergi Roberto playing as a right-back. The strategy worked as Barça became even more dominant and dangerous, and they started creating real scoring chances. The hosts had two big counter attacks, but Ter Stegen made two very good saves to keep the score 1-0 as Barça searched for goals.
And the goals came. In a space of three minutes, two corners in the box weren’t dealt with by the Sociedad defense, and two Barça attackers were quick and sharp with their reactions: first it was Luis Suárez with the equalizer, then Ousmane Dembélé with the go-ahead score. The Anoeta was left stunned, and Barça had a real chance to find a third goal and kill the game.
Sociedad naturally threw caution to the wind and sent everyone forward in search of an equalizer, and Juanmi came VERY, VERY close to getting a goal in two clear chances where he found himself alone in front of Ter Stegen. Barça’s keeper saved one, and Juanmi missed an easy header in the other. La Real were getting closer and closer to stealing a point from Barça, but the final whistle came and Barça celebrated three giant points.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo (Coutinho), Piqué, Umtiti, Alba; Roberto, Rakitic, Rafinha (Busquets); Messi, Suárez, Dembélé (Vidal)
Goals: Suárez (63’), Dembélé (66’)
Sociedad: Rulli; Zaldúa, Elustondo, Moreno, Theo; Illarramendi (Merino), Zubeldía, Pardo (Sangalli); Zurutuza (Bautista); Oyarzabal, Juanmi
Goal: Elustondo (12’)
from Barca Blaugranes - All Posts https://ift.tt/2QBnBXx
0 التعليقات:
إرسال تعليق