FC Barcelona vs Real Sociedad - Jan 14, 2018 - Match Review
Let’s
begin with a little nagging history. Despite being dominant for many
years in the La Liga, Barcelona had never won in the Anoeta Stadium
against Real Sociedad since 2007. A baffling fact indeed! Whenever they
play here, they seem to have a mental block that made their defense
shrink with some incomprehensible fear and that in turn created chaos in
the midfield and the flanks, rendering the forwards ineffective. (It
always reminded me of Federer nosediving against Nadal, despite playing
very well, till he broke that trend last season)
Against
Barcelona, Real Sociedad always came out with effective defense,
aggression and bullying tactics which made Barca suffer. The open Anoeta
stadium with the home crowds almost breathing down your neck, the
tormenting Sociedad players and a negative attitude resulted in painful
defeats or hard fought draws, but never a win for Barcelona, in the past
10 years.
With this historical hodoo,
visitors Barcelona took on the might of Real Sociedad in their own
impregnable hotbed - the Anoeta. To add to their misery, the heavy
downpour made the ground very slippery and tricky. Valverde had the
injured Iniesta in the bench , as a precaution, and gave Andre Gomes the
chance to play in the midfield, which was the only major change in the
team.
In the first few minutes, Luis Suarez
dribbled through the opposition into the D, but was stopped by Ruilli,
the goalkeeper. Then it was back to square one as Real Sociedad came out
firing on all cylinders. The Barcelona defense and midfield shrank into
a shell and looked extremely vulnerable.
There was no way to go forward
as the midfield panicked and sprayed passes all over the park in an
attempt to release the pressure. With their approach, Barca somehow
managed to make Real Sociedad look like league leaders and themselves as
a team fighting to stay out of relegation.
And
as expected a deserved Sociedad scored first. Xabi Prieto’s fantastic
cross was headed home by the towering Brazilian Willian Jose. While
Pique was harried, Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto were forced to defend
more than going forward. Ter Stegen was kept on his toes by the
marauding opposition. The midfield was ineffective. Andre Gomes just
wasn't the right choice in that position and was off pace whenever there
was a move forward. As the pressure kept piling, another Sociedad goal
was disallowed for an earlier foul. Messi and Suarez did manage to go
forward but were unable to break the deadlock.
The
2nd Sociedad goal came in quick succession. The gifted Canales played a
wonderful, chipped pass and Juanmi was the first to react to it with a
powerful shot. Unfortunately it took a deflection off, the on rushing,
Sergi Roberto and found the net. With 2 goals down, things appeared
pretty downhill for Barcelona and history looked to repeat itself.
But
then this Barca team, had a few members who didn't care much for the
history or the inexplicable mental block. One was Vermaelen who was rock
solid in defense and another was Paulinho who was sprinting up and down
the field relentlessly, as Messi was forced back into the midfield.
Suddenly against the run of play, Suarez broke the offside trap and
provided a fantastic cross which was tapped in by the sprinting Paulinho
who had successfully jostled his way through the rough Sociedad
defense. (For all the detractors, this is exactly why he is in this
team.)
At half time it was 2–1 with Sociedad
being the dominant team in all departments. But having pulled one back,
things didn't look as bad as the start for Barca.
The
2nd half saw FC Barcelona up the ante, while Real Sociedad continued to
threaten in their own aggressive way, backed by the boisterous home
crowd. By now, the Barca defense and midfield were more settled and did
not let the opposition rattle them much. Messi started to find his team
mates more effectively, while Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto became more
influential up front. One such moment led to the equalizer. Messi, with a
well timed, flawless pass found Suarez who just opened up his body and
scooped in a lovely curved ball which found the target, leaving the
opposition in a daze. This had to be the most beautiful goal from Luis
Suarez, this season. “El Pistolero” was back with a vengeance and he was
hungry for more. Even if Suarez had missed this chance, the charging
Sergi Roberto, who almost broke his ribs with the effort, would have
ensured that the ball had gone in. ( Wonder how Sergi manages to make
these incredible, anticipatory runs so consistently.)
As
the game progressed, Barcelona found their footing and started to
dominate. Vermaelen’s through pass found the ever lingering Suarez, who,
once again, finished it off with a forceful shot. Barcelona were up 3–2
and that's not the usual story at the Anoeta. But then with just one
goal ahead , Real Sociedad always threatened to pull back, to force at
least a draw.
In the meantime, Messi, by his
lofty standards, was having a quite game. Except for some exquisite
passes, whenever he tried to dribble through, he was bundled out by the
physical and effective Sociedad defenders. He had managed to take 3 free
kicks without much success. Luis Suarez won the 4th Barca free kick in
the 85th minute, This time Messi’s glorious, left footed shot, over the
jumping Sociedad wall, left the goalkeeper Ruilli frozen on the right
and found the top left corner of the goal. Barcelona went up 4–2. It was
game over as Real Sociedad were unable to keep up the pressure.
At
last, the gritty, little Barcelona team managed to break the 10 year
old curse at the Anoeta. It was a game that tested their attitude,
determination and patience. But they came up trumps with their optimism,
guts and energy.
At the start when everyone
was shivering at the back, Vermaelen was outstanding and withstood the
pressure like a boulder. Paulinho may seem edgy, but he gave the team,
the much needed, extra punch with his physicality and resolve to never
give up. The best part was to see a fantastic, in-form Luis Suarez, who
was immaculate and led from the front. Then there was the Messi free
kick goal, which was the cherry on top of the beautiful icing, that
ended the riveting contest and brought out a rare reaction from the
otherwise non-reactive Valverde.
A well deserved, hard fought, victorious comeback, at the Anoeta - in line with the unassuming Ernesto Valverde way.
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