PREVIEW | FC Barcelona v Real Sociedad
Amidst this weekend's carnival celebrations, FC Barcelona will be hoping to retain their place at the top of La Liga, which has hopefully only been temporarily taken away from them by Atlético Madrid, who beat Athletic Club 1-0 on Saturday to spend the night two points clear of Barça pending the outcome of Catalans' fixture at home to Real Sociedad this Sunday at 4.15pm CET.
However, Saturday also brought a 2-1 defeat for Real Madrid at Betis, meaning that a win for Barça would put four points between them and the all-whites, for the time being leaving Atlético as their main rivals in the title chase, a side that they will be visiting later this month.
Defeat to avenge
After an extraordinary start to the season, winning 11 out of 12 matches, it was a 1-0 defeat to Real Sociedad at the Reale Arena that opened FC Barcelona's sudden mid-season slump, in which they only collected 6 out of a possible 24 points.
Since that negative run ended, Barça have returned to the clinical form of the start of the season, winning five games on the trot, scoring 15 goals and conceding just two and restoring their position at the top of the table.
The side from San Sebastian's fortunes, meanwhile, have been faring the exact opposite. They started disappointingly, but the wins started coming towards the end of 2025 to the extent that they were knocking on the door of the Champions League. But they've only won three of their last nine matches and have dropped down to ninth. However, things are so close in that part of the table that they entered the weekend just one point short of sixth placed Rayo Vallecano.
Like Barça, they have also been busy on the cup front. While Barça have a big game against Benfica this week, Real Sociedad have the first leg of their Europa League clash with Manchester United to look forward to on Wednesday. The two teams are also in the Copa del Rey semi-finals. The days after Barça and Atlético played out that extraordinary 4-4 draw, Real lost the first leg of their own semi, 1-0 at home to Real Madrid.
Head to head
Barça may have lost to Real Sociedad earlier this season, and the Basques also won in the Catalan capital two seasons ago, but in general results between these two teams have been extraordinarily favourable. That 2023 defeat was very much the exception rather than the norm, with Barça having won all 24 of the other games at home to Real this century.
Defence the key
There is no doubting Barça's goalscoring prowess, but they do need to make sure that all that good work doesn't get cancelled out by slips at the other end of the field. Tuesday's cup clash with Atlético is an excellent case in point. Despite scoring four times, two goals conceded in the last few minutes meant the game ended in a draw.
And if there is any side that opponents need to worry about in the closing moments of a game, that side is Real Sociedad. Of the 23 goals that they have scored this season, no fewer than 10 have been scored in the final quarter. A slender lead could be dangerous against a side that tends to save its best for last.
Team news
Other than Marc Bernal and Marc-André ter Stegen, who are out for probably the rest of the season, Barça were heading into this game with a full-strength squad. However, there has been a setback in Andreas Christensen's expected return to duty, and the Dane will once again be missing for this one.
Real Sociedad are also largely untroubled by fitness concerns. Mali international captain Hamari Traoré has a torn cruciate ligament and hasn't been able to play since September, but otherwise, the rest of the team is in full health. But things aren't looking quite do good for them in the discipline department, with the Suriname and Japan international strikers Sheraldo Becker and Takefusa Kubo both out through suspension.
Hansi says
"We're not afraid of anyone" said the Barça manager ahead of the game. "This season, a lot is happening, and I have varied the training sessions. But the team is as always. In other matches, like the one against Valencia, we barely had any rest, and the team did great. We have to stay focused on the match. No excuses."
"The schedule doesn’t give us many other options. It has an impact. It’s not easy to manage and adjust. We’ll do what we can. Keeping players fresh is what we’ll do. We have three competitions and are fighting for three titles—when we started, no one expected to be in this position on March 1."