November 05, (THEWILL) – Barcelona were fortunate to claim a 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday evening, with Ronald Araujo scoring an injury-time winner despite the visitor’s dominance at Camp Nou.
The Catalan giants put in one of their most uninspiring performances under Xavi Hernandez, creating little in attack and spending long periods under pressure from their impressive Basque opponents. Sociedad were on top for most of the match and spurned several golden opportunities to take the lead.
The away side started brightly, with star performer Marc-Andre ter Stegen forced into a smart early save to deny Ander Barrenetxea. Sociedad’s intensity and possession put Barcelona on the back foot, and Xavi’s men struggled to put any attacking moves together in a lacklustre first-half display.
Sociedad continued to threaten after the break, with Ter Stegen keeping out Brais Mendez before Takefusa Kubo fired into the side netting. Barcelona offered little going forward despite Xavi bringing on Pedri and Ferran Torres, and Gavi wasted their best chance when denied late on by Alex Remiro.
Fortunately, the home side snatched an unlikely winner in injury time when Araujo headed in from an offside position, only for VAR to correctly overturn the decision and award the goal. It was a scarcely deserved victory for a Barcelona side that produced one of their poorest showings under Xavi against an impressive Sociedad outfit.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
