Barcelona fell to their second consecutive La Liga loss as the Blaugrana were beaten 1-0 by Real Sociedad at the Anoeta Stadium. An early headed goal from Mikel Oyarzabal in the 4th minute gave Sociedad the lead against Barcelona, and the home team held on to consign Barcelona to a shock defeat that blows the title race wide open.
Atletico Madrid are only three points behind in third, while bitter rivals Real Madrid who recently inflicted an El Clasico defeat, are just 4 points behind. It is a far cry from the mood around the Camp Nou just a few weeks back, as Barcelona also face a potential banana peel tie against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Champions League next.
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The all-conquering Barcelona side that wen 39 games unbeaten across all competitions with Leo Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar banging in the goals and breaking all sorts of record now face a genuine threat of losing out on La Liga and the Champions League, trophies they seemed dead set to win just a few weeks back.
Here are the stats from the game that will not make pretty reading for Luis Enrique's men:
5 – Barcelona have not kept a clean sheet in their last five games across all competitions, with Claudio Bravo and Marc-Andre Ter Stegen conceding 7 goals between them in that period.
362 – Lionel Messi has not scored for 362 minutes,his worst run of goal-scoring form since April – May 2011 (417 minutes). The Argentine has failed to find the net in the last four games against Villareal, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and now Real Sociedad.
9 – Barcelona last won at the Anoeta Stadium against Real Sociedad in 2007, which makes it a stunning 9 years since the Blaugrana managed to overcome La Real in San Sebastian.
100 – Ivan Rakitic’s 100th appearance for Barcelona was an unhappy one, as the Croatian came on to rescue the game after being rest by a Luis Enrique keeping one eye on the game against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League in midweek.
7 – Arda Turan earned his 7th yellow card for Barcelona in just 20 appearances, a staggering rate of a booking every three games. The Turk is now suspended for Barcelona’s next Liga game against Valencia for his indiscretions.
23 – The last time Barcelona failed to score was over 23 games ago, when the Blaugrana were held to a 0-0 draw by RCD Espanyol on 2nd January 2016.
7 – The last time Barcelona managed to get only 1 point from a possible 9 points in the league was in 2008/09, seven seasons ago.
4 – That’s the gap between 1st and 3rd place in La Liga. The similar gaps in Europe’s top 5 leagues are 10 in the EPL, 13 in Serie A, 26 in the Bundesliga and 28 in France. Surely, La Liga is the most exciting and competitive league now?
7 – Leo Messi had a staggering 7 shots on goal against Real Sociedad, the most he’s had against any team in La Liga this season, but failed to score anyway.
86 – The last time Barcelona came back to win after going a goal down at the Anoeta was 86 years ago in 1930. Are Real Sociedad Barcelona’s toughest opponents outside of Real Madrid?
