Nervy Barca made to struggle by Real Sociedad
Barcelona remain seven points behind leaders Real Madrid but they were made to struggle for their 2-1 win over Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou in what was a somewhat nervy performance.
With temperatures plummeting below freezing point in the Catalan capital and a disappointing gate of just 52,000 in attendance, Pep Guardiola’s team were missing regulars such as Gerard Piqué, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi Hernández and David Villa, with Sergio Busquets on the bench. However, it was winger Cristian Tello, making his first league start in a Blaugrana shirt, who gave Barca the lead after just eight minutes when he slid the ball past Claudio Bravo after getting on the end of Lionel Messi’s intelligent through-ball.
The Argentine international doubled the advantage on 72 minutes when he fired home from an acute angle, having uncharacteristically wasted a host of earlier opportunities, but the Basques got themselves back into the game just two minutes later when substitute Carlos Vela took advantage of Thiago Alcántara’s slack pass to fire past Victor Valdés.
Nonetheless, the hosts held on to ensure that Real Madrid, who had won at Getafe earlier in the evening, did not pull any further ahead in the title race, and Guardiola said afterwards he wished to thank the fans for turning up in sub-zero temperatures and they youngsters who had come into the side.
“First of all I would like to take my hat off to the fans who came here tonight,” he told a Press conference. “They have my gratitude and I would like to thank them very much. Secondly, I want to congratulate Cristian Tello, Isaac Cuenca and Jonathan dos Santos for the great games they had because it’s not easy to come into a match such as this and initiate much of the play.
“The 2-1 result was close and created a lot of anxiety towards the end. We could have drawn the game but I think we dominated much of the play, created a lot of chances and played quite well.”
Real Sociedad boss Philippe Montanier said he was proud of his players’ performance and despite the defeat insisted Barcelona deserved their win.
“Barca deserved the victory but near the end, with only one goal the difference, I was hoping for a draw,” declared the Frenchman. “I am happy with my team’s display, if not with the result, although we know it is always difficult to win here. Barcelona have had a lot of games lately and have had to make a lot of changes, but their way of playing is the same as it always is.
“In the second half we were better when we had the ball,” he continued. “We had two or three good chances, which is all you will get against Barca, so overall I have to be satisfied."
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