Barcelona Thrash 10-Man Sociedad to Reclaim LaLiga Top Spot

With an easy 4-0 home triumph over 10-man Real Sociedad on Sunday, Barcelona went back to top of the LaLiga standings and wrestled back control of the title chase.

With 57 points from 26 games, one ahead of Atletico Madrid, Barcelona’s sixth straight league victory landed them in top place. Third with 54 points following a 2-1 loss at Real Betis on Saturday is defending champion Real Madrid.”We are glad with our performance. Going first on the table and winning today were vital goals. Goal scorer Ronald Araujo, who also grabbed an assist, said, “We’re happy and we feel that we’re working really well.”

After the whistle, Sociedad tried to catch Barca off surprise and believed they had led through Sergio Gomez’s deflected strike only to have the VAR call off the third-minute goal for offside.

Early impetus of the visitors subsequently vanished when they dropped to 10 men; defender Aritz Elustondo bundled over Barcelona’s Dani Olmo in the 17th minute and was awarded a red card as the last man.

Barcelona did not take long to start counting on its advantage.

With a great team effort beginning with Lamine Yamal dribbling past two opponents before squaring for Olmo, whose chipped pass was volleyballized in by Gerard Martin for his first professional goal, Hansi Flick’s side opened the score in the 25th minute.

Three minutes later, Marc Casado matched the feat when Olmo’s long-range drive rebounded off him and into the net.

Barcelona maintained the pressure following the intermission and generated opportunity after another, adding a third goal in the 56th minute when Araujo headed a rebound from goalkeeper Alex Remiro’s save.

Flick made a triple substitution with a big lead in hand to save his players for their Champions League last-16 first-leg encounter with Portuguese team Benfica on Wednesday.

“It’s important to have a competitive squad to win medals, it’s not about 11 or 12 players, it’s about the whole squad and having a deep bench,” Araujo said.

“The manager is helping guys to come off the bench with great confidence.”

Barcelona kept looking dangerous even with the improvements; forward Robert Lewandowski scored a fourth by deftly guiding an effort from Araujo to net his 21st league goal of the season, so concluding the triumph.

More than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues, Lewandowski’s 34th in all competitions this season is more than what he has scored for Barcelona in one campaign since joining the Catalan giants in 2022.

Sociedad ranks ninth after managing just four away victories this season.

“The game utterly changed (after the red card),” Sociedad defender Javi Lopez remarked.

“Before that, we had the ball, we were imposing our style, pushing high up the pitch, not dropping too deep, playing with our style, confident.”