Real Sociedad puts the brakes on Barcelona

Second defeat for the leader in this Liga and both in the North. Winter is coming’ for a Bara that was beaten 0-1 at the Reale Arena by a more intense Real that took advantage of Take Kubo’s great game.

The Japanese was sensational, quick on the ball, intelligent in his decisions and was decisive for the victory of Imanol’s team. The defeat of the azulgrana should be justified more by their lack of character against a very intense team than by the absence of Lamine Yamal, who was not even called up.

There are fields where you know that if you don’t play intense they can paint your face and one of them is the Reale Arena.

The worst local team was playing against the best away team, something difficult to understand as Real Sociedad was the team playing at home.

Imanol’s team is a team that presses high and intensely and with a crowd that presses the rival a lot, so it is hard to understand that they had only scored four points out of a possible 18 at the Reale Arena before the visit of the azulgrana.

But this kind of statistics sometimes motivate even more those who have to lose, as it was the case. Real’s great game had its just reward.

The match did not let up from Cuadra Fernndez’s whistle. Before the first minute Casad prevented the 1-0 by taking away a clear goal ball from Sucic when the Croatian was about to finish from close range a pass from Kubo. Bara accepted the challenge of the intensity posed by the Basques and with two arrivals on the wing by Raphinha made their intentions clear. Flick managed to score after 13 minutes when Lewandowski took advantage of a bad clearance by Zubeldia inside the box and beat Remiro from close range. But the VAR discovered a millimetric offside of the Pole that invalidated it.

All of Real’s attacking play came down the right flank, where Take Kubo stood out. The Japanese player drove the defense crazy and came close to scoring a great goal in a play that included several dribbles.

Brais also tested Iaki Pea with a free kick. The Donostiarras warned and after half an hour they managed to take the lead on the scoreboard when Sheraldo Becker picked up an extension from Sucic that Cubars did not reach and beat Iaki Pea with a cross shot close to the post. Bara disappeared after the goal and a new play by Kubo with a deep pass to Becker and a subsequent pass from him to Oyarzabal to make it 2-0 at his pleasure, but he shot wide with everything in his favor to score.

In the second half, Dani Olmo came on for a rested De Jong, but the script was the same as at the end of the first half. A more intense Real and a Kubo in a state of grace that the first thing he did was to give a good ball to Sheraldo Becker who failed to take advantage of his advantageous position. Oyarzabal again had another clear chance, but Iaki Pea prevented the 2-0. Real wanted to finish the game off, but Bara held on and made Remiro show off a couple of times. Imanol did not want his team’s intensity to decrease and made a quadruple substitution with Aritz, Sergio Gmez, Barrenetxea and Oskarsson.

A fair and short victory

Bara’s line defense suffered more than it should have and Barrenetxea had another chance to make it 2-0 after breaking the line with ease. Kubo, from a corner, also came close to scoring, but Lewandowski denied the Japanese. Despite the home side’s attempts, the 1-0 scoreline kept Bara alive, who tried in the end but had no chance of getting close to Remiro. A fair and even short victory for Real, which is getting closer to the European places.