Barca Clips Sociedad's Wings TO GO Up To Fifth
17 December, 2020
LaLiga
Result: FC Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad
Date: 16 December 2020
Venue: Camp Nou
FC Barcelona moved up to fifth in LaLiga after via behind to defeat high-flying Real Sociedad 2-1 on Wednesday evening.
Ronald Koeman made several changes from the medial side that edged Levante, with Clement Lenglet and Philippe Coutinho dropping to the bench in favour of Oscar Mingueza and Pedri.
Blaugrana were on the front foot in the first stages nevertheless they were designed to rue their missed chances after Willian Jose broke the deadlock for the visitors found in the 27th minute with a tap-in after a good cross by Portu from a good corner situation.
Jordi Alba replied for Barcelona several minutes later on with a first-period strike into the top corner after he experienced on target from Antoine Griezmann's deflected pass.
Griezmann came near offering Blaugrana the business lead eight minutes prior to the break with a good looping hit from a tight position that came off the lower of the crossbar.
Frenkie de Jong eventually gave Barca the business lead two minutes prior to the break with a good first-time finish inside box after reacting the quickest to Alba's deflected cross and even though the linesman raised his flag for offside, the Training video Assistant Referee (VAR) confirmed that the target was legitimate.
The game was open in the first exchanges of the next stanza, with Sociedad pressing Barca high up the pitch and creating lots of space behind defence for the hosts to exploit on counter-attacks.
Nevertheless, the flow of the match was interrupted by several substitutions towards the finish, with Koeman going for a double change in the last 23 minutes remaining, as Trinaco came in for Griezmann while Carles Alena substituted Sergio Busquets.
Alexander Isak had an excellent chance to level issues for Sociedad within the last 5 minutes after latching onto a rebound around the penalty area but his powerful shot produced an excellent reflex conserve from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, as Barca held to progress to fifth up for grabs while Sociedad dropped down to second.
Source: www.soccerladuma.co.za