Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, the Estadio de Anoeta was one of the most daunting stadiums for any FC Barcelona player.
By Zach Lowy
Between September 2007 and December 2016, Barcelona failed to win any of their eight trips to Real Sociedad, before finally breaking the duck in a 1-0 win in the Copa del Rey. Since then, Barcelona have prevailed in six of their last seven trips to San Sebastián, and they’ll be looking to continue that streak on Sunday.
Barça’s Attack Clicking on all Cylinders
After starting the Hansi Flick era with three straight 2-1 victories, Barcelona headed into the September international break with a 7-0 thrashing of Real Valladolid, a momentous result that has set the tone for the opening weeks. 10 of Barcelona’s last 13 matches have featured at least four goals, with the Blaugranas scoring 3+ goals in each of their last seven. They are blowing away the competition, sitting six points clear of Real Madrid and 10 above Atlético Madrid thanks to a sensational attacking output that has seen them rack up 40 goals and win 11 of their first 12 league matches under Flick.
Raphinha the Man to Watch
Raphinha isn’t the kind of man who forgets. When Barcelona fans took to social media to post doctored images of Athletic Club winger Nico Williams wearing the #11, Raphinha used that disrespect as fuel and has quickly emerged as one of the most in-form players in world football. Since beginning October with a goal and an assist vs. Young Boys, the Brazilian has racked up at least one goal contribution in each of his last six matches for Barcelona, including a hat-trick vs. Bayern Munich, a brace of assists vs. Alavés, and a goal and an assist vs. Real Madrid.
After setting up both of Barcelona’s first two goals in Serbia, Raphinha stretched Barcelona’s lead to three en route to a 5-2 drubbing of Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday. The signs are promising as he looks to find the back of the net for the fifth match in a row.
Can La Real Shake off Recent Woes?
It has been just over a year since Real Sociedad finished fourth and ended a decade-long Champions League drought. Today, however, the Basque side find themselves in 11th place in LaLiga. What’s more, after losing 2-1 to Viktoria Plzeň on Thursday, they are currently outside of the 24 Europa League knockout playoff spots.
So far this season, Imanol Alguacil’s side have actually done better on the road than at home. Whilst they’ve won four away matches this season, their sole home win out of seven attempts came on September 28 in a 3-0 thrashing of Valencia. The odds are not in their favour as they take on a Barcelona side that seems to be cruising to a second LaLiga title in three years.
Prediction
Barça have won seven of their last eight matches vs. La Real, and there’s no reason to believe that pattern will not continue on Sunday.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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