Result: FC Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad
Date: 16 December 2020
Venue: Camp Nou
FC Barcelona moved up to fifth in LaLiga after coming from behind to beat high-flying Real Sociedad 2-1 on Wednesday evening.
Ronald Koeman made two changes from the 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 early stages but they were made to rue their missed chances after Willian Jose broke the deadlock for the visitors in the 27th minute with a tap-in after a cross by Portu from a corner situation.
Jordi Alba replied for Barcelona four minutes later with a first-time strike into the top corner after he went through on goal from Antoine Griezmann's deflected pass.
Griezmann came close to giving Blaugrana the lead eight minutes before the break with a looping strike from a tight angle that came off the underside of the crossbar.
Frenkie de Jong eventually gave Barca the lead two minutes before the break with a first-time finish inside the box after reacting the quickest to Alba's deflected cross and although the linesman raised his flag for offside, the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) confirmed that the goal was legitimate.
The game was open in the early exchanges of the second stanza, with Sociedad pressing Barca high up the pitch and creating plenty of space behind defence for the hosts to exploit on counter-attacks.
However, the flow of the match was interrupted by a number of substitutions towards the end, with Koeman going for a double change in the last 23 minutes remaining, as Trinaco came on for Griezmann while Carles Alena replaced Sergio Busquets.
Alexander Isak had a great chance to level matters for Sociedad in the last five minutes after latching onto a rebound around the penalty area but his powerful shot produced a great reflex save from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, as Barca held on to move up to fifth on the table while Sociedad dropped down to second.
