Barça 2-1 Sociedad: PHEW!

This was nervous, but a win is all that matters.

Barcelona are nine points clear at the top of the La Liga table going into the final five games of the season thanks to a very difficult 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad at Camp Nou. The Blaugrana weren’t at their best and looked exhausted at times, but Jordi Alba scored the winner in the second half and the leaders survived against a really good team to secure three giant points.

FIRST HALF

The first 25 minutes were hard to watch, and both teams contributed to it: the ball just didn’t stick, and neither team was able to execute their gameplan because they just couldn’t put three passes together. The only chance in that period came on a Lionel Messi free-kick that went just over the bar, but after that Barça finally began to control the ball and worry the Sociedad defense.

Jordi Alba, Ousmane Dembélé and Luis Suárez were having a lot of joy on the left side, and the Blaugrana started creating chances. The visitors had a big one themselves on a Juanmi counter attack, and Marc-André ter Stegen made a huge save to keep his sheet clean. As halftime approached Barça were clearly the best team on the pitch and deserved a goal, and they got it when Dembélé took a corner kick and Clément Lenglet headed home the cross beautifully.

At halftime, it took a while for Barça to establish their dominance, but they did and had a deserved lead. Could they finish the job in the second half?

SECOND HALF

The visitors made a strong start to the second half, sending a lot of bodies forward and pressing Barça really high up the pitch, which led to a few dangerous opportunities and another important save from Ter Stegen. Barça looked on the ropes for a while, and they eventually broke down when Mikel Merino played a sensational through ball to Juanmi for the equalizer.

Before the game could get nervous, however, Jordi Alba scored a great goal with his right foot and Barça had the lead back just two minutes after conceding. The rest of the game was extremely nervous for the hosts, who had to survive plenty of pressure from La Real while trying to kill the game on the counter. The third goal never came, but Sociedad also didn’t score and the final whistle came to give Barça a crucial victory.

Nine points clear of Atlético Madrid, and just five games to go. The title is coming.

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Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Piqué, Lenglet, Alba; Vidal (Roberto), Rakitic, Arthur (Busquets); Messi, Suárez, Dembélé (Coutinho)

Goals: Lenglet (45’), Alba (64’)

Sociedad: Rulli; Zaldua, Elustondo, Llorente (Barrenetxea), Muñoz; Merino, Zubeldia (Sangalli), R. Pardo; Oyarzabal, Willian José, Juanmi (Sandro)

Goal: Juanmi (62’)

Source: barcablaugranes.com