Week One(1): Barcelona V Real Sociedad Match Review and Highlight

For the first time in over 17 Years, FC Barcelona Kick-started their Campaign without Lionel Messi in their Camp. The Catalans Officially opened their 2021-22 LaLiga Campaign with a tough clash against Real Sociedad in the Messiless Era.

Watch Barcelona V Real Sociedad on e360hubs tv 

After their first 'Transitional' season under Ronald Koeman, Barca now heads into another season under the tutorship of the Dutchman. This time  with a massive shift in the team dynamics after Messi’s departure. Nevertheless, the signs looked positive, as the home side secured a great victory courtesy of the combined effort of the New and Old players, both young and experienced.

|FIRST HALF|

The Catalans Came out buzzing with energy from kickoff, with Memphis Depay looking more electric on his competitive debut, pulling off all sorts of flicks and tricks and getting involved in the buildup plays. The former Manchester United player was a constant menace causing all sorts of trouble to Real Sociedad from the get go.

Antoine Griezmann too, was a lot more involved in the match. The world cup winner was constantly putting in pressure, trying an acrobatic effort that missed and later hitting the bar in the 12th minute from a header. Griezmann looked to have more freedom to run everywhere without the presence of Lionel Messi. Just seven minutes later,  Memphis Depay Spun a glorious free-kick into La Reals penalty box, delivering the ball straight onto the head of the man who made a massive sacrifice of taking a significant Pay cut, so he could register. Gerard Pique got beyond all his markers, and burried a powerful header home to open the scoring.

In the dying Minutes of the first half, when the game looked to be going into the break with a one nil lead to Barca, Frenkie De Jong picked up the ball on the right flank and lifted a great Pin-point Cross towards the back post, where Martin Braithwaite had made an overlapping run and sent a crashing header to make it 2-0. A strong first half from the Koeman and his boys.

|SECOND HALF|

Barcelona picked from where they started as the whistle signaled to begin the second half. The Catalans heaped more and more pressure on La Real and it took less than 2 Minutes and the ball was already in the net. However, the referee cancelled it out for an initial offside on the Goal assistant, Frenkie De Jong. Barca, However, didn't have to wait much longer as Braithwaite once again found some space to bury home a Jordi Alba loss Cross.

Leading comfortably at 3 Nil, Ronald Koeman decided to make a few changes as He brought off Dest and De Jong for Emerson and Sergi Roberto. The Substitutions seem to have disturbed the team's chemistry as Imanol Alguacil’s men pulled one back in the 81st Minute after a lapse in concentration by the Barcelona defense. Two Substitutes Barrenetxea and Julen Lobete to combined to reduce the deficit by two. Koeman once again looked to his bench for a solution. 

However, No sooner had Nico Gonzalez’s brought on than he immediately got into a tackle, and his challenge was penalized as a foul, and Mikel Oyarzabal scored a magnificent goal from the resulting free-kick to make it 3-2.

Having tested blood Real Sociedad went all out to look for an equalizer but in the process exposed themselves at the back and Barcelona staggered back to their feet as a massive counter-attack saw Griezmann play in Braithwaite, who then took a wonderful touch to accelerate away from his man and drill the ball across the box for Sergi Roberto to nudge into the back of the net. A simple, but highly important goal to seal the victory for FC Barcelona.

A night of positives and negatives for Barcelona who show potency in attack without the presence of their All-time Club topscorer but again a worrying site as the defense leaked in two goals to show how far Barca still are interms of fixing their defensive woes. Despite the Match reaching nervy moments in the latter stages, Barca matched on with a comfortable win to start what seem to be the most important part of the long term Messiless future.