La Liga
Real Sociedad vs Barcelona Preview
Real Sociedad vs Barcelona is one of the most captivating La Liga fixtures this weekend. The Catalans travel to the Anoeta to face a tough foe. The away fixture against Sociedad has always been a tough one for Barcelona. In fact they ended their almost 11 year long winless streak at the stadium only last season. The torrid spell in San Sebastian infamously known as the ‘Curse of the Anoeta’ finally ended last season. It was a hard fought 4-2 victory for the Blaugrana. The previous 7 visits had ended in 2 draws and 5 losses for Barça.
The visitors are currently on top of the table with 3 wins out of 3 and having scored a whopping 12 goals, 8 of which came against Huesca alone. Sociedad however haven’t started as well. They have managed 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss in the opening 3 games. They have scored 5 goals but they have conceded 5 as well.
Squad Updates
Real Sociedad are missing numerous key players through injury. Most notably Adnan Januzaj, Willian Jose who scored the opener against Barça in this fixture last season, David Concha and also ex-Barcelona youngster Sandro Ramirez are all unavailable for the foreseeable future. Barcelona however have no major injury concerns.
Both teams will gun for the victory and Asier Garitano will make sure that his side will give Ernesto Valverde’s squad a run for their money. The lineups will most likely be unchanged from the previous fixtures.
Ones To Watch
The home side will look towards their prolific forward Juanmi to threaten the Barcelona defense and put the ball in the back of the net. His intelligent runs in behind and finishing ability will surely keep the opposition back line busy.
As for Barcelona one always has Leo Messi in mind. The ever-classy Argentine has brought the magic once again into the new season and will be looking to extend his great goalscoring run on Saturday. Ousmane Dembele has also been in fine form and his immense creativity and technical ability is potent enough to wreak havoc at the Anoeta.
Interesting Facts and Predictions
- Messi has scored 13 goals in his last 13 league games and 11 in his last 13 against Sociedad.
- Real Sociedad have won 7 of their last 8 league games at home averaging 3.1 goals in that run.
- Barcelona have lost only one away game in the league under Ernesto Valverde
Although the Anoeta curse has been broken and Barcelona are in great form ahead of the trip to San Sebastian, this fixture has always been tough for the Catalan giants. They will most likely edge the game but will certainly not have it easy away from home.
Prediction: Real Sociedad 1-3 Barcelona
Photo credit topetr.pavel via Flickr
