Barcelona suffer shock defeat at Real Sociedad, eleven-match winning streak ends

Joao Cancelo made his Barcelona comeback after 601 days, starting on the bench, while Hansi Flick made only one change to his line-up, with Eric Garcia replacing Gerard Martin. Real Sociedad made a fast start and thought they had scored straight after kick-off, but Mikel Oyarzabal was ruled offside. Barcelona responded quickly on the counter, although Pedri failed to convert.

Five minutes later, Fermin Lopez struck from outside the box, but the goal was disallowed after Dani Olmo was penalised for a foul in the build-up. In the 32nd minute, Sociedad finally took the lead when Goncalo Guedes delivered a cross that Oyarzabal finished with a superb strike. The hosts went into the break 1-0 ahead.

Barcelona pushed for an equaliser in the second half and eventually found it in the 70th minute. From a move similar to Sociedad’s opener, Lamine Yamal provided the assist and Marcus Rashford headed home. However, the lead lasted just one minute. Straight from the restart, Guedes capitalised on a loose ball to restore Sociedad’s advantage.

Even after Carlos Soler was sent off for a late challenge on Pedri, Barcelona were unable to find another goal, and Sociedad held on for a famous win. The result lifts Sociedad to eighth place on 24 points, eight points off the European places. Barcelona, meanwhile, suffered only their third La Liga defeat of the season and now sit just one point ahead of Real Madrid.

After the match, Hansi Flick expressed his frustration. “I’m disappointed because we played a very good match,” he said. “We hit the woodwork four times, had two goals disallowed and created countless chances.

“The result doesn’t reflect our performance. We have to defend better, especially after conceding the second goal immediately after scoring the equaliser.” Still, Flick insisted his side deserved more: “There are days when you put in a lot of energy and in the end you don’t have any luck. We deserved to win, but that’s football.”

Barcelona will now turn their focus to the Champions League, with a trip to Slavia Praha on 22 January. They will then return to La Liga to face Real Oviedo before concluding the Champions League Swiss Stage against Copenhagen on 29 January.