Three talking points ahead of Real Sociedad vs Barcelona | La Liga MD20 | OneFootball

After a long trip away in Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup, Barcelona returned to action away from home at Santander for the Copa del Rey Round of 16 midweek.

Their calendar, however, still does not send them home as they must now travel away to the Basque Country to take on Real Sociedad at Anoeta, or as it is now called, the Reale Arena.

Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side have seen a good run of results since he took over at the beginning of this month. They have two wins and a draw in their first three games under the new coach and will be looking to extend the run of momentum tonight.

Barça Universal brings you three talking points ahead of Real Sociedad vs Barcelona.

Moving towards the impossible

Barcelona’s win away against Racing Santander midweek marked a special landmark for the team in terms of the winning streak that they are on.

The result in the Copa del Rey Round of 16 saw the team hit 11 successive games without dropping a point, reaching level terms with some of the finest runs of form in the team’s history.

Reaching 11 straight wins saw Hansi Flick achieve a feat very few coaches have in the club’s history. For starters, Pep Guardiola’s unstoppable Barcelona hit 11 straight wins in 2009 in the season they went on to win the treble.

Hansi Flick is reaching new heights with this Barcelona side. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

The feat was repeated in 2015 by Luis Enrique as his team hit 11 straight wins that campaign. Surprisingly, the Catalans went on to win the UEFA Champions League on that occasion too.

Flick reaching that special figure in the previous fixture shows that the team are destined for something special this season – but tonight he has the chance to do something special and even cross the records held by Guardiola and Enrique.

The longest ever winning streak in Barcelona’s history is held by Frank Rijkaard, under whom the team hit 18 straight wins across all competitions. While that is still a long way out, Flick’s side moves closer to the impossible with every win from this point on.

An awaited debut

The Copa del Rey fixture midweek turned out to be far closer than many expected, and it forced Hansi Flick to bring on the team’s big names late in the game to see out the result.

While the team got the job done and saw the big names partially rested, one objective Flick could not achieve on the night was handing Joao Cancelo his debut.

The Portuguese international arrived back at the club earlier this month and will be with the Blaugrana until the end of the season. The manager has spoken highly of his attacking potential and it will be interesting to see where he fits into Flick’s dynamics.

In all likelihood, Cancelo’s debut will arrive against La Real and it will be a matter of focus to see if the manager utilises him as a backup right-back or left-back. 

Further, Cancelo’s official integration into Flick’s plans will also free up some of the manager’s centre-back options who are currently stuck in full-back roles concurrently, i.e. the likes of Gerard Martin, Eric Garcia, and possibly Jules Kounde.

All eyes, needless to say, will be on what Cancelo can provide in his few minutes off the bench and what the manager has in store for him.

A memory to turn around

Barcelona’s first season under Hansi Flick was as close to a dream season as it gets, for the club were seemingly unstoppable on all fronts.

Can Barcelona continue their momentum against Real Sociedad? (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

All in all, they only suffered six defeats in La Liga, two in the UEFA Champions League, and were unbeaten in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup.

Real Sociedad at Anoeta, however, is one fixture that they did not manage to triumph in last season, and was one of the six league games in which the team dropped all three points last season.

Moreover, it served as the start of Barcelona’s year-end slump in Flick’s first season, one that saw them fall back in the title race and lose steam until the Christmas break.

On the night, it was Sheraldo Becker who scored in the 33rd minute to hand the hosts the lead and Barcelona were well and truly outplayed on the night as they produced an xG of just 0.64 compared to La Real’s 2.02.

Anoeta, thus, was one of two away stadiums where Flick’s team lost last season and they will look to turn around that result and memory tomorrow as they arrive high on confidence.