The presence of Take Kubo had as much weight as the absence of Lamine Yamal at the Reale Arena. Real Sociedad completed an excellent match around the football woven by the Japanese, an offensive midfielder who curiously also passed through La Masia, and Barcelona did not know how to attack or defend without his figure, who had an ankle injury since the Belgrade match. Although the score was different, the Blaugrana’s second defeat was as clear on the field as that of Osasuna (4-2), with Lamine acting as a substitute in El Sadar. The game went against the statistic that announced a match between the worst home team against the best visitor in the League. It was also remembered that the Blaugrana had seven consecutive victories and had not lost in San Sebastián since 2016. The background had nothing to do with the match played this Sunday. The highest scoring Barça in recent years, the one that averaged three and four goals per game, was left to zero, disfigured the night when the ingenious Lamine was not there.
1
Álex Remiro, Igor Zubeldia, Nayef Aguerd, Jon Aramburu (Aritz Elustondo, min. 60), Aihen Muñoz (Javi López, min. 83), Brais Méndez, Takefusa Kubo, Sheraldo Becker (Ander Barrenetxea, min. 60), Martín Zubimendi , Luka Sucic (Sergio Gómez, min. 60) and Mikel Oyarzabal (Orri Óskarsson, min. 61)
0
Iñaki Peña, Iñigo Martínez, Pau Cubarsí, Jules Koundé (Gavi, min. 83), Alejandro Balde, Frenkie de Jong (Dani Olmo, min. 45), Raphinha, Pedri (Pau Víctor, min. 90), Marc Casadó, Fermín López (Ansu Fati, min. 68) y Robert Lewandowski
Goals
1-0 min. 32: Sheraldo Becker
Referee Guillermo Cuadra Fernandez
yellow cards
Jon Aramburu (min. 19), Íñigo Martínez (min. 52), Brais (min. 81), Zubeldia (min. 86)
Flick replaced the winger with Fermín as if nothing was happening, player by player on the right side of the attack, in order to keep Raphinha on the left wing. For now, Barça does not seem to have a substitute fourth forward capable of competing with a midfielder like Fermín. Ferran is injured and both Ansu Fati and Pau Víctor are footballers for the carousel of changes rather than demanding matches like the one at the Reale Arena. The coach was not interested in touching the lineup too much so as not to alter the good game mechanics of his team against an opponent who has not completely stabilized on the field despite the excellent direction of Imanol: “We will be doing something wrong,” he was honest. the coach, who initially opted for Becker and Aihen.
And Becker did not forgive after a poorly started play and worse defended by Barça. Peña’s serve did not find any teammate and the ball traveled from Zubeldia’s head to Sucic’s until it ended up at the feet of the forward, who finished very well against the Barça goalkeeper. The goal rewarded the good moments of Real, who pressed well, and sanctioned the Barça’s difficulties in leaving their area, still confused by a goal disallowed for Lewandowski. Although he played well in the midfield, the Barcelona players did not go deep or finish in a very open match, with alternating dominance and with more arrivals to Peña’s area than to Remiro’s, because the differential factor was Kubo, excellent in a assistance to Oyarzabal, who forgave the 0-2.
Kubo was unbalanced in transitions and set pieces while Barcelona could not find Raphinha, missing Lamine’s creativity and asking for Olmo to come on. Fermín’s formula as a winger did not work and Pedri’s interventionism was not enough to shoot, set up the last pass or connect with Lewandowski. The change at half-time was a foregone conclusion: Olmo came on for the innocuous De Jong. The Barça defense, however, continued to concede opportunities to Real. Flick’s team did not shrink well, increasingly distanced from Remiro, and on the contrary, Imanol’s team attacked very well.
The Barcelona discomfort contrasted with the San Sebastian fluidity before the enthusiasm of the Reale Arena fans. The contest, however, was kept open by the generosity of Imanol’s boys. La Real does not exactly have problems with the game but with goals, being poorly successful against the opposing goal and vulnerable in its own, both in the League and in Europe. Barça, misguided, did not find Remiro’s goal with the starters or the substitutes, missed by Lamine. He did not know how to finish the plays and his final charge was sterile, with no more action to remember than the disallowed goal for Lewandowski. There, in the confusion, their state of grace, which had lasted since September, ended and the brilliance of Real and Kubo’s class emerged.
