How Barcelona Delivered a Crushing Football Lesson to Real Sociedad

As Real Sociedad stepped onto the pitch at Estadio Lluis Companys under the radiant Barcelona sun on Sunday afternoon, there may have been a hint of anxiety in their approach, especially considering that the Catalans had triumphed in 25 of their last 26 home encounters against La Real, winning 20 of the 21 meetings in Barcelona since the turn of the century.

Despite this, the Basque side arguably offered a welcoming challenge. Nonetheless, Barcelona had already encountered setbacks this season with unexpected losses to Leganes and Las Palmas at home, highlighting their vulnerability when complacency crept into their game.

In light of these factors, Barcelona’s slightly adjusted 4-1-4-1 formation featured Marc Casado in a defensive pivot role at the outset.

Interestingly, as illustrated in the graphic below, while Casado’s average position placed him just in front of the back line as is typical for that role, the overall dominance displayed by Barcelona in this match pushed their defensive line closer to the halfway mark. Consequently, Casado often found himself well within the Sociedad half (slightly obscured in the centre circle – No. 17 in the graphic below).

This extremely high defensive line has become a high-risk, high-reward tactic that Hansi Flick stubbornly adheres to, despite its occasional surprising outcomes this season.

It quickly became evident that Barcelona would have considerable freedom against Imanol Alguacil’s side, allowing them to effortlessly transition into their preferred possession-oriented style.

Between the 15th and 30th minute, the hosts maintained possession for an impressive 83.2% of the time, a crucial period when Alguacil would have hoped to readjust his formation following an early red card shown to Aritz Elustondo.

Things didn’t improve for La Real in the opening 15 minutes of the second half, with Barcelona continuing to dominate, pushing their possession stats to a match-high of 91.2 percent.

If there’s one enhancement that Flick has introduced to the beautifully intricate passing sequences we associate with Barcelona, it is an exceptional intensity and vigour in their pressing throughout the team. For instance, Casado, from his defensive midfield position, made 14 entries into the final third of the pitch, a figure only surpassed by centre-back Pau Cubarsi.

The pressure that the Blaugranes managed to exert on their opponents within half a pitch, while excelling in tight spaces, was a sight to behold.

From Barcelona’s perspective, Raphinha was the only player to fall below an 80% pass accuracy, whereas Dani Olmo (38) and Robert Lewandowski (24) registered fewer passes than his 41 total. Notably, La Real’s goalkeeper, Alex Remiro, managed to make 45 passes—four more than Raphinha.

While Sociedad had several players boasting over 80% pass accuracy, only two of their outfielders exceeded 20 passes in total. Highly-rated Martin Zubimendi, rumoured to be a long-term target for Arsenal, recorded just 13 passes from a mere 20 touches of the ball. On the other hand, Jon Olasagasti, the sole visiting player to achieve 100% pass accuracy, was substituted after the red card given to Elustondo.

The visitors struggled to escape their half for extended periods, with a significant portion of Barcelona’s attacking efforts (40.4%) funneling down the right flank where Lamine Yamal thrived. He connected with Jules Kounde a remarkable 22 times, the highest tally for either team, while Frenkie de Jong (15) and Pedri (10) also frequently directed their passes towards the exciting 17-year-old.

This trend is further illustrated in the heat map graphic below.

Barcelona posed a consistent threat across the attacking thirds, tallying 29.9% of their thrust down the left flank, where Casado and Gerard Martin collaborated, showcasing Barca’s tactical adaptability by switching play to the opposite side.

This certainly underscores the contributions of the players in the final third, as both ended up scoring their first-ever goals for the club.

Dani Olmo set Martin up to score the opening goal, part of his five chances created in the match, sharing the highest tally with Yamal and de Jong. Olmo also assisted for the second goal, which Casado effectively redirected into the net, securing the game for Barcelona before the half-hour mark. Remarkably, this represented Barcelona’s 33rd goal in the first half of their 26 LaLiga games this season—more than any other team in the top tier of Spanish football.

Even the most loyal Sociedad fan would agree that the contest was effectively decided at that point, especially as Alguacil’s side had yet to register a single shot on target.

In fact, failing to muster any shots throughout the entire match marked the lowest total for any team in this LaLiga season. Furthermore, Sociedad became only the second club since the start of the Opta era (2003/04) to go an entire LaLiga game against Barcelona without a single shot.

In stark contrast, Barcelona launched 33 shots, which represented the highest tally in any single match within the Spanish top-flight during the 2024/25 season.

If that statistic does not illustrate the visitors’ struggles sufficiently, they recorded a mere single touch in Barcelona’s penalty area—the fewest of any LaLiga game in the past 15 years.

This situation allowed Barcelona’s full-backs to surge forward, inundating the Sociedad box with crosses—18 in total, surpassing their season average of 17.6.

Ronald Araujo seems to relish encounters with La Real; alongside his 56 accurate passes (with an impressive 94.9% accuracy, the second highest among Barcelona players above 50 passes), he scored his first LaLiga goal since November 4, 2023, also awarded against Sociedad.

Across all conceivable metrics, it was a dominant performance by Barcelona, who continue their ascent with six successive league wins and an unbeaten run of 15 matches across all competitions—something that should send alarm bells ringing through the Spanish top-flight and beyond.