Three talking points as Barcelona inexplicably lose 1-2 to Real Sociedad in La Liga | OneFootball

Last night was right up there with one of the most frustrating nights an FC Barcelona fan has ever endured. It was a night when the ball simply refused to go in, the woodwork seemed to have a grudge against us, and every decision seemed to be falling in favour of the other team.

How Barcelona failed to win last night remains a mystery that will persist for a long time. The easy answer would be a lack of clinical finishing, but that would be doing a disservice to the controversies that plagued the Reale Arena.

Ultimately, Real Sociedad took advantage of some shoddy Barcelona defending to put two goals past Joan Garcia. It is a script that already played out last season at the same stadium, and Barcelona fell prey to it once again.

With all this in mind, here are three talking points from Barcelona’s shock defeat to Real Sociedad that sees their lead at the top of the table narrow.

Do you get deja vu?

It does feel like Olivia Rodrigo’s song is the best way to summarise Barcelona’s night at the Reale Arena. Perhaps alarmingly, the game followed a script very similar to the one that played out at the same ground a season ago.

An away trip to Real Sociedad has long been a troublesome fixture for Barcelona. That said, how often do you get the same referee and the same VAR officials, in the same stadium against the same opposition, and face the same injustice two years in a row?

Lamine Yamal’s ruled-out goal for offside made absolutely no logical sense. Even the images that emerged from the automated system seemed to suggest the Spaniard was onside, no different from the Robert Lewandowski offside situation a year ago.

Ultimately, it was the same story again. Sociedad went on to score a couple of goals and secure a slender one-goal win against Barcelona under very controversial circumstances.

Defensive cacophony

Just how poor were Barcelona defensively against Sociedad? The Catalan club has had issues throughout the season, and while the high line itself was not the problem last night, the individual defending left a lot to be desired.

Jules Kounde was skinned alive during both of Sociedad’s goals. He failed to track the far-post runner, as a full-back should, in the lead-up to Mikel Oyarzabal’s goal, which should, and could, have been prevented by Joan Garcia at his near post.

For the second, Pau Cubarsi was partially at fault for wandering away from his position, but it was Kounde, yet again, who played his man onside in the build-up and failed to hold the line his teammates were keeping.

All in all, it was another game where, individually, some Barcelona defenders did not seem up to the mark this season. By contrast, Eric was imperious yet again last night and would have wished for his colleagues to support him better.

Lamine Yamal at his very best

If there is one positive that Barcelona can take back from the Reale Arena, if they even wanted to, it would have to be Lamine Yamal’s performance. The Spaniard was head and shoulders above everyone else on that pitch.

From the first minute, he seemed switched on and at his very best. He had Sergio Gomez’s number early on and never gave him a chance to contain him on the night. Nothing changed even after Guedes started double-teaming him.

The teenager fashioned many chances for his teammates, came close to scoring himself on multiple occasions, and eventually provided the assist for Marcus Rashford’s well-taken goal midway through the second half.

It is a shame that this performance came in a defeat, but if this is the level Lamine is going to be playing at between now and the end of the season, there will be very few games that end this way for Barcelona and Hansi Flick.