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Barcelona subjected followers to one of the crucial uninspiring performances of the Xavi period as they someway escaped with a 1-0 victory over Actual Sociedad on Saturday night.
Sociedad have been on prime all through as Barcelona provided embarrassingly little in assault, with the Catalan facet as a substitute spending loads of time holding on in defence.
It took till second-half stoppage time for Barcelona to indicate any actual attacking impetus and Ronald Araujo beat the offside entice to move residence and bail his facet out.
How the sport unfolded
Sociedad got here out sizzling and Marc-Andre ter Stegen wanted to make a powerful save to disclaim Ander Barrenetxea after only a few seconds.
That set the tone for the opening phases, with Barcelona nicely beneath their finest and counting on Ter Stegen to maintain the rating degree. Xavi’s facet seemed torpid at each ends of the sphere and have been dropping the possession battle because the clock ticked over to half-hour.
The dearth of attacking spark was significantly alarming for Barcelona, who watched as Sociedad punished their sloppy play and threatened to open the scoring time and time once more. Xavi can have been relieved to get into half-time degree.
Ter Stegen saved nicely from Brais Mendez because the second half kicked off, earlier than Takefusa Kubo fizzed into the facet netting with a strike that was finally pulled again for offside anyway.
Sick of his facet’s poor efficiency, Xavi referred to as on Pedri and Ferran Torres shortly earlier than the hour mark in an try to vary something, however the latter’s first involvement noticed him run the ball straight out of play.
Raphinha despatched a timid free-kick on to the roof of the web however their finest likelihood of the sport fell to Gavi in stoppage time. The midfielder discovered some area within the field however his low strike was nicely stopped by Alex Remiro, who had barely been concerned up till that time.
One way or the other, Barcelona escaped with all three factors as Ilkay Gundogan’s cross was headed residence by Ronald Araujo within the 93rd minute. The defender fortunately accepted the on-field referee’s verdict that he had strayed offside, just for VAR to intervene and appropriately award the aim.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 7/10 – A extremely spectacular displaying in aim. Needed to be alert from the opening second because the poor defence in entrance of him repeatedly left him uncovered.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 7/10 – Some very uncomfortable moments early on as he was dragged out extensive. Ultimately recovered and impressed within the second half. Took his aim nicely.
CB: Jules Kounde – 6/10 – Lacked composure in possession. Stepped up within the second half as Sociedad continued to roar forwards.
CB: Inigo Martinez – 7/10 – Booed relentlessly by the followers of his previous facet however was comfortably Barcelona’s finest defender.
RM: Joao Cancelo – 4/10 – Positively not a winger. His attacking impression was very restricted and he clearly misplaced his head in the direction of the top of the primary half with a annoyed foul.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 4/10 – Marked into oblivion however Gundogan is meant to be higher than this. Sluggish in possession and poor together with his passing. A pleasant cross for Araujo’s winner however that does not gloss over what was an in any other case atrocious displaying.
CM: Gavi – 5/10 – Usually wonderful work price however Gavi merely had an excessive amount of to do in midfield. Tried to cowl each blade of grass however was typically out of place as a result of he was making an attempt to do an excessive amount of.
LM: Alejandro Balde – 4/10 – Made the occasional good run as he tried to truly do one thing, nevertheless it wasn’t typically sufficient.
AM: Fermin Lopez – 4/10 – Could not get into the sport in any respect. Credit score to Sociedad’s midfield for swarming him continuously.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 2/10 – His poor urgent contributed to Sociedad’s consolation on the ball. Did not get any service in assault however did not do sufficient to assist his teammates discover him anyway. Hooked early within the second half, which tells you every thing you should know.
ST: Joao Felix – 2/10 – An embarrassing try to win a first-half penalty summed up a bitterly irritating efficiency from Felix.
Substitutes
SUB: Ferran Torres (57′ for Fermin) – 5/10
SUB: Pedri (57′ for Lewandowski) – 5/10
SUB: Lamine Yamal (69′ for Felix) – 6/10
SUB: Raphinha (69′ for Cancelo) – 5/10
Subs not used: Inaki Pena (GK), Ander Astralaga (GK), Marcos Alonso, Andreas Christensen, Oriol Romeu, Marc Casado
Supervisor
Xavi – 2/10 – This formation was the unsuitable name. So, so poor. Took Xavi far too lengthy to vary issues and he was in the end bailed out by a late aim.
Participant of the match: Ronald Araujo (Barcelona)
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