Global Courant 2023-05-21 02:24:21
Barcelona, Spain.
Real Sociedad, the guest rival at the FC Barcelona alirón party, achieved a historic victory at the Spotify Camp Nou (1-2), where they had not won since 1991, and took a giant step to seal the pass for play the next edition of the Champions League.
The last victory (1-3) ‘txuri urdin’ at the Barça temple dated back to May 18, 1991. That day the Basque team also made the aisle for the league champion trained by Johan Cruyff. Dalian Atkinson and John Aldridge scored, the latter twice, in a matchday 35 match, the same date the two teams met this Saturday.
Too many coincidences for the Real not to take advantage of the opportunity to finally conquer a usually cursed stage. This time the heroes for Real were Mikel Merino and Alexander Sorloth, authors of the two goals for their team.
The Barça hangover lasted five minutes, which it took Sorloth to steal a ball from Kounde, who reappeared as a central defender, and assist Merino, who from inside the area beat Marc-André ter Stegen at will. It was the prologue to a splendid first half, open, with two daring teams, fearlessly seeking the goal.
Barça tried it with Frenkie de Jong pulling the strings in the midfield and Ousmane Dembélé unbalancing in attack. The unruly flight of the ‘mosquito’ was a nightmare for the ‘txuri urdin’ defense, both when he played on the right flank or on the left.
But his team, which in the face of the casualties of Pedri and Gavi returned to play with three points, did not take advantage of the moment of grace from the French winger. Neither Lewandowsi, on two occasions, nor the arrivals of Kessie, one of them repelled by the Barça dream Martin Zubimendi, nor Dembélé himself with a header managed to equalize the contest before the break.
And the Gipuzkoan block was not affected by the stage fright that they usually suffer in the Barça fiefdom. He went without complexes for the second goal. And that Imanol Alguacil introduced up to five changes in the lineup, leaving props like Take Kubo or Mikel Oyarzabal on the bench.
In fact, if Real did not come to rest with a higher income, it was due to the regular appearances of Ter Stegen. The German goalkeeper, who is one clean sheet away from equaling Paco Liaño’s record of 26 games without conceding, once again established himself as the Barça lifeguard, getting a saving foot with a shot from Mohamed-Ali Cho. Nor was Barrenetxea successful in executing two dangerous blue and white arrivals before the break.
Koundé, protagonist of the first realistic goal, was replaced at the restart by Marcos Alonso. But the problem was not behind Xavi’s team. He lacked fang and intention in the last meters and the Real players were comfortable with the ball. They didn’t have much trouble without him either.
In fact, the best chances in the second half were for Real through Sorloth. The giant Norwegian pardoned the second with a frank header from inside the area that incomprehensibly missed the target.
The blaugrana tedium of the second half was not shaken by Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres from the bench either and the Basque team took advantage of it to sentence the match. On the third occasion Sorloth did not fail. He stole the ball from midfield Zubimendi, who set up a book counterattack that was finished off by the Nordic striker (0-2, min.71).
The champion, who suffered the first league victory of the season at home, reacted in the 90th minute with a header from Lewandowski, who scored his twenty-second goal in LaLiga. Barça and the Barça fans woke up with the goal from the Pole, but it was already too late to tie the tie.
With this historic victory, Real remains firm in fourth place with a five-point lead over Villarreal, its closest rival.
– Data sheet:
1 – Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Balde, Koundé (Marcos Alonso, min.46), Christensen, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets (Eric García, min.84), Frenkie de Jong, Kessie (Ansu, min.63); Dembélé (Torre, min.86), Lewandowski and Raphinha (Ferran, min.63).
2 – Royal Society: I remir; Elustondo, Zubeldia (Pacheco, min.81), Le Normand, Rico; Cho (Kubo, min.58), Zubimendi, Merino, Illarramendi (Gorosabel min.58); Sorloth (Carlos Fernández, min.81) and Barrenetxea (Marín, min.73).
Goals: 0-1, min.5: Merino. 0-2, min.71: Sorloth. 1-2, min.90: Lewandowski.
Referee: Javier Alberola Rojas (Castilian-Manchegan committee). He admonished Zubeldia (min.8), Illarramendi (min.37), Take Kubo (min.79), Carlos Fernández (min.85), by Real; Busquets (min.72), Marcos Alonso (min.79) and De Jong (mi.84), by Barcelona.
Incidents: LaLiga Santander matchday 35 match played at the Spotify Camp Nou in front of 88,049 spectators. Before the game, a minute’s silence was observed in memory of former Barcelona player Ferran Olivella, former manager of the Barça entity Jaume Amat and former president of Real Sociedad, Iñaki Alkiza, who all recently died. After the match, the president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Luis Rubiales, presented the league champion trophy to the Barça captain, Sergio Busquets.
