Real Sociedad vs. Barcelona: Score and Reaction from 2016 La Liga Match

Barcelona couldn’t break the curse of the Anoeta during Sunday’s 2016-17 La Liga fixture, as Real Sociedad held the Catalans to a 1-1 draw. The Blaugrana still haven’t won in San Sebastian since 2007.

La Real dominated the first half, earning chance after chance but failing to open the score. Willian Jose gave the hosts a deserved lead early in the second half, but Lionel Messi struck back almost immediately.

Juanmi had a goal controversially disallowed in the late stages of the match, and La Real went closest with several chances in the dying minutes. No more goals were scored, however.

As the Catalans’ official Twitter account shared, Rafinha was kept on the bench, with Andre Gomes keeping his place in the starting XI:

Barça XI 🔵🔴 1.Ter Stegen3.Piqué4.Rakitic5.Sergio9.Suárez10.Messi11.Neymar14.Mascherano18. J.Alba20. S.Roberto21. A.Gomes#FCBLive

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) November 27, 2016

La Real came into the match in superb form, winning their last four, including a 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid. In typical fashion, they showed no fear of Barcelona whatsoever, putting pressure on the Blaugrana early.

David Zurutuza drew an early save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen, beating Gerard Pique to a cross from Carlos Vela. Pique had a rough start, comically missing a clearance Javier Mascherano had to push out for a corner.

Carlos Martinez tried his luck with a shot from long range, missing the mark, and Mikel Oyarzabal couldn’t pick out a team-mate with his cross. Sports writer Sid Lowe was impressed with the hosts:

La Real have started very, very well.

— Sid Lowe (@sidlowe) November 27, 2016

Willian Jose picked out Xabi Prieto with a fine cross, but the Sociedad man couldn’t direct his header past Ter Stegen, whose positioning was on point in the opening stages. He had another headed chance minutes later, as Jordi Alba missed his intervention, but somehow, he failed to find the target.

Prieto redeemed himself with a fantastic through ball for Vela, who took a bad touch before sending his …

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