Alba gifts La Real victory

A superb defensive display from Real Sociedad and a Jordi Alba own goal saw them emerge with a 1-0 victory over Barcelona on Sunday.

Lionel Messi, Neymar and Dani Alves were granted extra time off over Christmas, meaning they were rested for the trip to the Basque Country. Consequently, Martin Montoya and Munir El Haddadi were given starting berths in the aforementioned trio’s absence, with Jeremy Mathieu and Xavi also coming in. La Real, meanwhile, welcomed back top goalscorer Carlos Vela into their starting line-up after he had missed their last two matches of 2014 through injury.

It was a decision which heavily backfired on the Catalan giants as Sergio Canales’ cross from a short corner was headed by Alba into his own net after just two minutes. Xavi then tried to conjure up an equaliser from a free kick, but he bent the ball fractionally over Geronimo Rulli’s crossbar.

The midfielder was involved again midway through the first half, this time seeing his corner flicked on by Mathieu, who in turn fed Luis Suarez, but the Uruguayan’s shot fizzed into the side-netting, albeit aided by a deflection. It was enough to wake La Real up from their temporary slumber.

With the end of the first half looming, Alberto de la Bella played a fine one-two with Canales down the left channel and flashed a low cross in front of Claudio Bravo’s goal, but Xabi Prieto was marginally too late to connect with the ball at the far post.

Canales was by far the most influential player on the pitch before half-time, and he almost doubled Sociedad's lead when he shimmied Martin Montoya and stung the Chilean's palms with an effort from distance. At the other end, Pedro came close with a similar attempt.

The restart began with Luis Enrique bringing on Messi in place of Munir, and the Argentine immediately created problems for the Basques with his inventive play. The subsequent introductions of Neymar and Alves smacked, however, of poor decision-making from the Coach before the match.

Nonetheless, David Moyes’ troops put in a shift of a lifetime as they broke down a succession of Barca attacks, and ironically it was the Basques who had the best chance of the opening exchanges in the second period as De la Bella’s deep cross was inauspiciously missed by Bravo, with Prieto lurking.

Messi and Neymar began to show glimpses of their famed link-up play, and the 27-year-old came within a whisker of striking the equaliser home from the Brazilian’s returned pass, were it not for Inigo Martinez’s perfectly-timed block and Carlos Martinez’s clearance.

The Barca kitchen sink showed no signs of letting up as Xavi flunked another chance to draw his side level. Alba looked to atone for his earlier mistake by sliding a square pass to the veteran playmaker in the box, but he could only shoot straight at a grateful Rulli.

Rulli then consolidated his status as La Real’s saviour for the evening. First, the goalkeeper rushed off his line to bravely smother Suarez's finish after the Uruguayan had broken clear of Sociedad’s offside trap, before he made a crucial, fingertip save to pluck the former Liverpool ace’s header out of the air.

Real Sociedad 1-0 Barcelona

Jordi Alba og 2

Real Sociedad: Rulli; C Martinez, Ansotegi, Inigo, De la Bella; Bergara, Granero; Prieto, Canales, Castro (Finnbogasson 66); Vela (Pardo 90)

Barcelona: Bravo; Montoya, Mascherano, Mathieu (Alves 70), Alba; Busquets, Xavi, Iniesta; Munir (Messi 45), Suarez, Pedro (Neymar 57)

Referee: Carlos Del Cerro

Tags Barca Sociedad
La Liga - Club News