Real Sociedad vs Barcelona Preview

Barcelona will not have looked forward to this fixture when the list was released at the start of the season as this venue is one of the toughest grounds for them in the whole of Spain.

Barcelona have not won a league game at Sociedad in almost a decade and that should give the host confidence ahead of this game.

Sociedad are currently 12^th in the league table and were knocked out of the Copa del Rey by third tier opponents so there isn’t much for their fans to cheer about at the moment.

That being said, they always have a reason to be happy when Barcelona enter town and they come into this game after winning over Sevilla 3-1 before the break so they should be reasonably optimist here.

Barcelona made a walk over Celta Vigo in their last game – a match that many expected to be a tough encounter for them was already over after 32 minutes as the Catalans ran into a 4-0 lead.

Coach Ernesto Valverde removed Gerard Pique at the break and took out Lionel Messi and Iniesta early on in the second half to keep them fresh ahead of this game.

Barcelona currently have a 9 point advantage over Atletico Madrid in the league table but they cannot afford to lose points here as that would allow Atletico close in as the Madrid side play their next three games at home.

Barcelona have lost 3 of their last 4 visits to this ground.

Results of each team’s last 5 matches across all leagues and competitions

Real Sociedad

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
L	Leganes		1-0		Real Sociedad	7 Jan, 2018	Spanish Primera División
W	Real Sociedad		3-1		Sevilla FC	20 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
D	Athletic Bilbao		0-0		Real Sociedad	16 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
L	Real Sociedad		0-2		Málaga	10 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
L	Real Sociedad		1-3		Zenit St Petersburg	7 Dec, 2017	Europa League

Barcelona

LAST FIVE GAMES						DATE	COMPETITION
W	Barcelona		3-0		Levante	7 Jan, 2018	Spanish Primera División
D	Celta Vigo		1-1		Barcelona	4 Jan, 2018	Spanish Copa del Rey
W	Real Madrid		0-3		Barcelona	23 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Barcelona		4-0		Deportivo La Coruña	17 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División
W	Villarreal		0-2		Barcelona	10 Dec, 2017	Spanish Primera División

H2H

LAST FIVE GAMES					DATE	COMPETITION
Barcelona		3-2		Real Sociedad	15 Apr, 2017	Spanish Primera División
Barcelona		5-2		Real Sociedad	26 Jan, 2017	Spanish Copa del Rey
Real Sociedad		0-1		Barcelona	19 Jan, 2017	Spanish Copa del Rey
Real Sociedad		1-1		Barcelona	27 Nov, 2016	Spanish Primera División
Real Sociedad		1-0		Barcelona	9 Apr, 2016	Spanish Primera División

Other fixtures taking place this week in the Spanish Primera:

Spanish Primera Table

Spanish Primera Results