Three takeaways from Real Sociedad 2-1 Barcelona

It was simply not meant to be for Barcelona at the Reale Arena last night as Hansi Flick’s men slipped to a rare defeat against Real Sociedad, bringing an end to their streak of 11 straight wins across all competitions.

The night was largely jinxed for the Catalans as the ball refused to enter the net for most of the game. Marcus Rashford eventually scored the team’s equaliser, but Real Sociedad levelled under a minute later with a goal out of the blue.

Sunday night’s result leaves Barcelona with 49 points after 20 games, just one ahead of Real Madrid and seven ahead of Villarreal, who have a game in hand.

Barça Universal brings you three takeaways from Real Sociedad 2-1 Barcelona.

A cursed game

There can really be no explanation for Barcelona’s defeat last night than calling the game cursed, for that was the feeling right from the beginning until the very end.

Barcelona simply could not find the back of the net on the night despite being the superior attacking side by some distance.

Every effort appeared to find a way to stay out of the goal, with either a superhuman save, the woodwork or a narrowly missed finish denying the Catalans the lead.

In 90 minutes at Anoeta, Hansi Flick’s side had three disallowed goals from Frenkie de Jong, Fermin Lopez and Lamine Yamal. While two were denied for offside, one was cancelled for a foul in the buildup.

In addition to that, Barcelona even hit the woodwork four times with the likes of Dani Olmo, Jules Kounde and Robert Lewandowski all coming very close to scoring.

It was simply not Barcelona’s night in any capacity, and as obnoxious as it sounds, poor fortune cost them. Notably, the team has reached 11 straight wins under Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique as well, and on both occasions dropped points in the 12th game.

Horrendous refereeing

Refereeing controversies ensued in Barcelona’s loss. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

It is rare for Barcelona’s players and managers to come out in open fire against the referee, for the club and Hansi Flick have always been supportive of officials and the difficulties they face on the field.

The very fact that Flick and Barcelona captain Frenkie De Jong came out and openly hit out at the referee Gil Manzano shows how badly they were affected by his horrendous and egoistic officiating.

It was at the same venue, against the same opposition, that Barcelona lost a controversial game by a 1-0 margin last season. On the night, Lewandowski scored an opener that was denied for offside, and even the replay never convinced that he was offside.

The final images, in fact, appeared to lengthen the Polish striker’s boots, starting a famous meme online about Spanish officiating.

Last night, history repeated itself, only this time the recipient was Lamine Yamal. The youngster’s goal on the night was disallowed for offside by the same referee, and even the images released close to 20 minutes later barely proved anything. 

De Jong also openly complained about how Manzano acted egoistically on the night, as if he arrived from a superior plane, and refused to even listen to the Barcelona captain on that night – something that must be rightfully condemned and called out.

He was even shown a yellow card for talking to the referee as the captain.

While Barcelona will look to quickly move on from the defeat, it is important that Manzano’s poor officiating comes to light and that he faces the music. What happened last night, after all, was a clear-cut robbery.

Title race blown open

Be it through poor luck or poor officiating, the end result of the game at Reale Arena was that Barcelona suffered their first defeat since going down at Stamford Bridge, and thus dropped three points in the league title race.

The four-point lead they had over Real Madrid ahead of the match day has now seemingly vanished after Los Blancos won their game against Levante. The lead is now cut down to just one point, throwing the title race wide open again.

Flick’s men do indeed still retain the lead, but the pressure on Real Madrid has been lifted to a large extent as the gap is very easily surmountable. A small edge that Barcelona had on their underperforming arch-rivals has now fizzled out.

The Catalans will not take away too much negativity from the defeat last night, for they were the better team and created the better chances. The team had an off-night, and such occurrences are a part of football.

What is important, however, is that they put it behind them and look up to the UEFA Champions League clash ahead without being affected by the result. After all, there is no time to brood over bygones.