By Samuel A. November 11, 2024
Real Sociedad handed Barcelona their second La Liga defeat of the season on Sunday night, thoroughly outplaying the leaders in San Sebastian. Sheraldo Becker’s first half goal was the difference between the two sides, though Real Sociedad had plenty of chances to add to the lead. The visitors on the other hand, despite being in good form, didn’t manage to register a single shot on target.
Barcelona were missing the injured Superestar Lamine Yamal and never looked in rhythm throughout the 90. The Defeat means Barcelona’s lead has been cut to six points and chasing Real Madrid have a game in hand. Sociedad climbed to eighth thanks to their second home victory of the league season.
Barcelona thought they had opened the scoring after 13 minutes, only for VAR to intervene and rule Lewandowski offside, controversially. The only problem is, it did not look offside on replay, and when a graphic was drawn up that did not settle it either, as it appeared the defender’s foot had been interpreted to be Lewandowski’s.
Spanish football is rarely short of conspiracy theories around refereeing and this will not help. If the technology was working as intended and it was indeed Lewandowski’s boot that was offside, the authorities would be well served to demonstrate that quickly, as the broadcast beamed around the world painted a confusing picture.
“I think the responsibility for the defeat is ours, we could have played much better. We were good in the first 15 minutes”, Hansi Flick noted. He expressed disappointment that despite finishing the match united as a team, they lacked the strength to secure a victory. “It is a defeat, but the games so far have been fantastic,” he said.
