The title race for the Spanish crown is officially over with Real Madrid lifting their 36th La Liga title. Although participation in the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League is already confirmed for Barcelona and first-timers, Girona, the race for 2nd spot remains up for grabs.
When Girona defeated the Blaugrana 4-2 on matchday 34, in addition to granting Real Madrid the title, the club confirmed their participation in next season’s edition of the UEFA Champions League and leapfrogged Barcelona into the 2nd spot. A 2-2 draw to Alaves on Friday, immediately put that position in doubt with Barcelona’s clash with Real Sociedad coming up.
With three more matchdays to come, the race for 2nd spot will remain heated up with one point separating both teams.
Lamine Yamal Scores For Barcelona
Xavi’s lineup included three changes from the side that faced Girona. Iñigo Martínez replaced Ronald Araujo, Pedri replaced Sergi Roberto, and Raphinha replaced Fermín López.
In the 38th minute, Raphinha struck the post after a solo drive by Gundogan from deep in the midfield, where he carried the ball to the edge of the Real Sociedad box before cutting back for Pedri. Pedri, choked out by the Sociedad defense, then passed the ball to the onrushing Raphinha whose well-placed shot hit the post. Gundogan’s rebound shot went agonizingly over the bar.
One minute later, Robert Lewandowski received a pass at the center circle and threaded a sleek pass through the Sociedad defense into the path of Gundogan who had already started darting towards the Sociedad box. With two defenders behind him and one defender and Lamine Yamal on his right, he played the ball into the path of the 16-year-old who slotted it into the bottom left corner of the net for Barcelona.
Real Sociedad And Barcelona Test Each Other
In the 43rd minute however, Sheraldo Becker beat the Barcelona offside trap after a through ball was played over the top of the defence into the path of his run. Through on goal with only the goalkeeper to beat, the striker dragged his shot wide.
In the third minute of the second half, Pedri took a quick short corner on the left side of the pitch to Gundogan, who passed the ball to Raphinha who was at the edge of the box. The Brazilian then blazed a shot narrowly over the bar.
In the 64th minute, Pedri found Raphinha in a similar position and the Brazilian took the shot again, aiming for the top left corner. This time, he hit the target but the goalkeeper was alert to punch the ball away.
Two minutes later, Gundogan gave away a stray pass to Real Sociedad’s Brais Méndez in a dangerous area, just outside the box. Méndez then dribbled through three defenders into the box and fired just wide of the right-hand post.
In the 73rd minute, Take Kubo, who had been brought on to replace Sheraldo Becker, dribbled into the box on his left foot and fired a shot which Marc-André ter Stegen comfortably saved.
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Raphinha Makes It Safe In Injury Time
Three minutes later, Robert Lewandowski was withdrawn to be replaced by Ferran Torres. In the 77th minute, Sergi Roberto who had replaced Andreas Christensen, dropped a pass over the Sociedad defence, on the shoulders of Torres.
Torres used his shoulder to cushion it into the path of Raphinha who was running down his left. Raphinha, who received the pass in the box, immediately cut back for Torres who at that moment had the option of playing a pass to Fermín López who was free on the right, and taking a shot. The striker opted to take the shot which was expertly saved.
In the 89th minute, Raphinha took a long-range free-kick which got through the wall before being blocked by Odriozola. Three minutes later, the VAR called the referee to the screen to review the incident. It turned out the block had been with Odriozola’s hand just inside the box. The referee awarded Barcelona a penalty.
Three minutes into added time, Raphinha drilled the penalty into the bottom right corner of the net to give the Blaugrana a 2-0 lead.
Barcelona’s 2-0 win takes them ahead of Girona into 2nd position on the La Liga table with three games to go to the end of the season.
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Ebenezer has been an avid writer for over a decade and a half. Within that period, he has garnered experience in various fields such as editing, graphics design, transcribing, sales, data analysis, and football management.
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