Real takes Barça down from the cloud

Barça could not extend its good streak this Sunday at the Reale Arena. The team led by Hansi Flick fell 1-0 in a match in which the culés did not feel comfortable at any time and in which they accused the last-minute loss of Lamine Yamal. A goal from Becker in the first half was enough to stop the Blaugrana before the national team break and put pressure on a League that is reopening after the triumphs of Real Madrid and Atlético.

It is better not to change what works. It is a football maxim and it is something that Flick seems to have etched in his script. The German coach does not experiment, he includes few changes and repeats his approach day after day. And this time they had to face the last-minute loss of Lamine Yamal due to discomfort, but that did not prevent a recognizable Barça from being seen, at least in their idea of ​​​​the game. Fermín entered his position and Frenkie de Jong entered the double pivot alongside Marc Casadó to free Pedri, getting closer and closer to the rival area.

The problem with repeating ideas is that sometimes your rival can take your license plate. This time a Real Sociedad did it, setting the bait and waiting for Barça to bite. The culés pressed in the opposite field, brought Koundé and Balde into the rival field and took possession of the ball very early on, an aspect that Flick highlighted as key for this match. However, something went wrong for the Blaugrana and it was, paradoxically, the so-called offside. The faithful ally in recent days, turned his back on Flick’s team on this occasion.

Lewandowski’s goal disallowed

The VAR annulled a goal by Lewandowski due to a millimetric offside of those that exasperate the romantics of vintage football and immediately Sheraldo Becker knew how to do what cost the Vinicius, Mbappé and company so much. The Surinamese started from behind, surprised the Barça forward defense and scored at will before the departure of Iñaki Peña. It was the only spark of a first half that ended in water and with Barça raising the revolutions in the last minutes, too late before a break that was reached with Remiro without needing to intervene and with Flick looking at the notebook in search of solutions.

After the restart, the match erupted. Flick introduced Dani Olmo for Frenkie de Jong, with discomfort, and Real came out with the idea of ​​giving Barça their own medicine. Imanol’s men overwhelmed with suffocating pressure and managed to short-circuit the Blaugrana’s exit from behind to the point of generating two clamorous chances that Iñaki Peña thwarted and that Becker missed when he had everything in his favor. It was the worst moment for a Barça that participated in the exchange of blows and that tried with deflected shots from Cubarsí and Fermín.

The game was on the ledge. The sentence and the tie were at the same distance when Barça was preparing to sign a siege that was not such. Flick, with less depth on the bench than in previous days, introduced Ansu Fati and removed Fermín, missing on the wing, but the change did not serve to wear down a Real Sociedad that knew how to maintain the intensity throughout the ninety minutes. Dani Olmo, very participative, tried from a distance on two occasions but he did so without luck and little by little Barça faded as the Reale Arena pressed and believed in the task of beating the new leader of the competition. Finally, Barça handed over the spoon and goes into the national team break with six points ahead of Real Madrid, although with one more game.