Barcelona vs. Real Sociedad: Team News, Predicted Lineups, Live Stream, TV Info
Barcelona should have more than enough in the tank to see off Real Sociedad despite their recent battling performance against Sevilla.
This game comes with a little added spice, too. Eusebio Sacristan returns to the club where he enjoyed his most successful period as a player but ended up as a disaster in managerial terms.
Arguably, his inability to get Barca B playing as a cohesive and attacking unit largely contributed to their eventual relegation last season to the third tier of Spanish football, the Segunda B regional division.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
For players such as Alejandro Grimaldo, Jean-Marie Dongou and the like, having to ply their trade in a league well below their capabilities is, with respect, unforgivable.
Moreover, the journey for any reserve player to make the jump up to the first team will be more difficult than ever.
Sacristan does return to Camp Nou with a significant advantage, however.
Schooled in the Barca way, he will have more than a passing knowledge of how Luis Enrique will set up his table-toppers, and that could prove incredibly frustrating for the Blaugrana.
With two defensive midfielders to sit and hold, passing lanes will be at a premium, and it will need all of the inventiveness of Barca's front men to tease open the lock.
What Sacristan already appears to have achieved is to have given La Real some belief, something that appeared to be sorely lacking under David Moyes.
The visitors will be more than happy to wait until an opportunity presents itself, even if that arrives during the last knockings of the game.
This isn't a match to go gung-ho nor is it one where Sacristan's charges should be shrinking violets.
Per Fussball Wettpoint, Sociedad have lost all nine games played at Camp Nou in the last decade, scoring just one goal on three occasions and remaining goalless in all of the rest.
A few of those defeats have been by a solitary goal, however, so if the visitors bring the right attitude, there are possibilities to perhaps take a point back to San Sebastian.
Date: Saturday, November 28
Time: 3 p.m. GMT/10 a.m. ET
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
TV Info: Sky Sports 3, Sky Sports 3 HD (UK—delayed highlights only)/beIN Sports 1 (U.S. only)
Live Stream: Sky Go (UK only)/beIN Sports Connect (U.S. only)
Form Lines
Predicted Formations
Sacristan will start the match with a fairly attack-minded 4-2-3-1 formation, giving Real Sociedad enough support for Imanol Agirretxe up front and cover for the back four.
The striker may have to plough a lone furrow for long periods, but he'll put in a shift to give Gerard Pique and Jeremy Mathieu some food for thought.
The likelihood of Mathieu being targeted by virtue of being the "weaker" of the two centre-backs will be high. The Frenchman has shown himself to be a little less comfortable in one-on-ones than Pique, and if the visitors can isolate him, they could profit.
Xabi Prieto remains instrumental to the Basques' purposeful forays into opposition territory, and he will have willing runners either side in Bruma and Sergio Canales.
The latter will particularly enjoy the battle with Dani Alves, a player whom he has got the better of on more than one occasion in the past thanks to the Brazilian's lack of tactical nous at times.
Sergio Busquets will have to be at the races and in Prieto's face all game. The Barca "snowplough" simply cannot allow Prieto time and space to deliver.
As Busquets showed at the Bernabeu, he can turn defence into attack in an instant and will be crucial in so doing here.
Andres Iniesta and Ivan Rakitic will enjoy the battle with Asier Illarramendi and Ruben Pardo. Neither Sociedad player should allow themselves to be drawn away from the sentry in the centre of the pitch, but nor can they allow Barca's creators supreme free reign.
With 121 goals between them in 2015, Neymar, Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi need no introduction to La Real's defence.
Aritz Elustondo on the right side of the four hasn't covered himself in glory recently, and up against an incredibly gifted and in-form Neymar, he will struggle. The weakness is unlikely to have escaped Luis Enrique who will give the Brazilian carte blanche to set the standard.
Inigo Martinez will enjoy frustrating Suarez, and the Uruguayan has to be careful not to undo all of the good work of the last few weeks with an act of petulance should things not be going his way. Mikel Gonzalez also stands in his way so it could be a quiet week for the No. 9.
We'll see how fit and firing Messi is as soon as he has a one-on-one with Yuri. Neither player nor club should force his recovery. Barca are in an excellent position and can allow the Argentinian to ease himself back into the first-team picture at his own pace.
Player to Watch
When a new manager comes in, it's only right that every player feels a need to impress, perhaps fearful of their position.
Xabi Prieto probably falls outside of that remit, but that didn't stop the midfielder showing his class in Eusebio's opener against Sevilla.
Aside from his 77th-minute goal, which killed the game as a contest, the performance by the hosts bore all of the hallmarks of the experienced Prieto.
He may be 32 years old, but that hasn't dulled his excellence in the middle of the park. Against much younger opponents in some cases, Prieto was a class apart.
The central figure in an attacking midfield three, Barcelona need to close down quickly when he has possession of the ball. Prieto is expert at finding the gaps with Sergio Canales and Bruma seeking to benefit from some accurate balls in behind.
Key Battle
In the Santiago Bernabeu and on the biggest of stages, Andres Iniesta ran the show. El Ilusionista was simply breathtaking, and his stunning goal was a reward for his competency throughout the match.
Madrid were at sixes and sevens for large parts of the game and just couldn't contain the fleet-footed genius.
That is the task facing Asier Illarramendi.
Brought back from Real after a disastrous spell in the Spanish capital, Illarramendi hasn't really won back the support from fans of the club since his return.
Perhaps that's as much due to David Moyes as anything because the midfielder's best performance of the season strangely came just the past weekend against Sevilla.
The youngster will certainly have his hands full for the entirety of the 90 minutes as Barca's captain goes buzzing through the lines, always alert and always looking for that small chink in the opposition armoury.
The outcome of this particular battle could author the backdrop to this game. Yes, Barca do have their incredible front three back together again, but they have to be fed in order to wreak havoc.
Should Illarramendi stop the supply line from the Barca's left side, that will go a long way to determining the outcome.
Odds
Barcelona: 100-909
Real Sociedad: 25-1
Draw: 9-1
(via Odds Shark)
