Goals from Lamine Yamal and Raphinha gave Barcelona a crucial, but uninspiring, 2-0 victory over Real Sociedad as they moved back above Girona in the race to finish behind Real Madrid in LaLiga.
The opening goal of the game came when the 16-year-old winger expertly finished from just inside the area and into the bottom left corner after Ilkay Gundogan squared the ball through the legs of a blue and white shirt. It followed a sublime spin and reverse-pass from Robert Lewandowski too in a very nice goal.
Raphinha capped things off by cooly finishing from the penalty spot going to the goalkeeper’s left after VAR called handball. The goalkeeper went the right way but couldn’t get near it as Barcelona ran out 2-0 winners.
The first big chance of the game actually went in favor of the visitors, however, as Mikel Oyarzabal found Sheraldo Becker in the box, but the 29-year-old could only fire over from close range.
MARCA
Real Sociedad then had a goal ruled out for offside as Becker continued to wreak havoc in the 23rd minute. It was a tight call from the linesman and the forward was left feeling hard done by.
Barcelona then grew into the game as Pedri whacked the post in the 38th minute before Gundogan could only fire over from point-blank range with a chance to have given his side the lead before he spared his own blushes moments later by assisting Yamal.
The second half then became a very boring affair although both sides had their chances to change the scoreline. Raphinha had a strong shot denied in the 65th minute while Brais Mendez could have levelled, but only managed to fire wide.
Kubo then had a good chance in the 73rd minute before Ferran Torres should’ve scored four minutes after. Yamal then looked to grab his second of the game, but it narrowly evaded the far post, before Raphinha ensured a key three points for Xavi’s men.
AP
Gundogan banned for Barcelona’s next game
Gundogan was one of three players coming into the contest knowing that if they picked up another yellow card, they would miss the 36th game of the season against Almeria on Tuesday, May 16.
The other two were Andreas Christensen and Oriol Romeu, but the pair managed to get through the Real Sociedad match unscathed and will be fully available for the final two games as long as they don’t collect a red card.
