2023-05-20 22:12:48
FC Barcelona, crowned Spanish champions the previous day, were surprised 2-1 by Real Sociedad on Saturday at Camp Nou for the 36th day of La Liga, and suffered their first defeat of the season at home in La Liga. .
Hangover for the champion: FC Barcelona, crowned since the previous day, was dominated 2-1 by Real Sociedad on Saturday at the Camp Nou for the 36th day of La Liga, for the match which was to serve as a prelude to the celebrations with its audience.
The Blaugranas conceded the first goal very early, on a loss of ball from Jules Koundé which allowed Alexander Sorloth to start once morest and serve Mikel Merino (5th). The Norwegian then himself concluded a counter generated by Martin Zubimendi (72nd) to seal the 2-0 which brings the Basques (current 4th) closer to the Champions League.
The headed goal of “Pichichi” Robert Lewandowski, with a header at the very end of the match, did not prevent Barça from suffering their first setback of the season at home.
Despite the guard of honor that the players of Imanol Alguacil have reserved for the freshly champions of Spain, and the banner “La Liga is ours, the future too” deployed on the central circle before kick-off, it is without inferiority complex that the Basques entered the lawn.
But the first goal was made easy for them by Koundé: the French international defender wanted to erase Sorloth with a dribble, but lost the ball.
Zubimendi, assassin target
And the second, similar to the first, was initiated by a player targeted by Xavi and the Blaugrana club this summer: Zubimendi stole the ball from Frenkie de Jong, then at the end of the action found himself serving the 2-0 ball at Sorloth.
“Zubimendi is an extraordinary pivotal midfielder. He understands the football model that we like here at Barça, he is dominant with and without the ball. (…) And following the departure of Busquets, the priority recruitment will be that of a pivot”, Xavi had slipped Friday in a pre-match press conference.
Barça did try to respond with Franck Kessié (15th, 18th), who missed the target, but it was above all the Basques who threatened Marc-André ter Stegen: Ander Barrenetxea (27th) or Mohamed-Ali Cho (30th ) have continued to pose a threat to the Catalan cage.
With these two goals conceded, their 14th and 15th of the season in the league, Barça will no longer be able to beat the Chelsea record of 2004-2005 under José Mourinho, who had conceded only 15 goals in 38 days, a historic record in the five major European championships. At best, he can match it.
Ter Stegen, he will only have three games left to try to get a 26th game without conceding a goal and equal the record for “clean sheets” in La Liga.
Lazaro you can triple
Earlier in the day, in Girona, Villarreal snatched the three points in added time thanks to a goal from Gerard Moreno in the 90th + 4 (2-1).
Thanks to this success, the “Yellow Submarine” had come within two small points of Real Sociedad before the victory of the Basques in Catalonia, and chased Girona (8th) from the European places.
The Catalans were overtaken by Athletic Bilbao, who beat Celta Vigo 2-1 thanks to two goals from Inaki Williams (5th) and Alex Berenguer (54th).
At the bottom of the standings, Almeria made short work of Mallorca 3-0 thanks to a hat-trick from 21-year-old Brazilian nugget Lazaro (12th, 42nd, 58th), and Getafe and Elche parted back to back 1-1.
If the Illicitans are already relegated, the Madrid suburbs will still have to fight for maintenance: they are provisionally the first non-relegation team, tied on points with Valladolid (35 points), first relegation.
On Sunday, the two Madrid clubs will continue to engage in a thrilling duel for 2nd place, currently occupied by Real who will travel to Valencia. Atletico will receive him Osasuna.
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