Barcelona suffered their first truly poor result of the 2024/25 La Liga season thus far, falling 1-0 to Real Sociedad on Sunday night in the penultimate match before the November international fixtures.
It was a truly bizarre performance from Barcelona in comparison to their displays in other matches this season, because they went from a team exploiting space on the counterattack to a plodding outfit that more closely resembled their struggling rivals Real Madrid.
Juxtaposed to Real’s own 4-0, Vinicius Junior-fueled romp of Osasuna – the only other team to beat Barcelona in the league this season – the Blaugrana’s poor performance against La Real appeared to be that much more striking.
There’s no need for any panic in Barcelona, of course. They are still in the lead in La Liga heading into the November “break”, and when looking at the summation of their squad, especially after Real’s latest season-ending injury to top center back Eder Militao, you still have to consider them strong favorites to take home the league crown.
But when Real Madrid is concerned, there is no such thing as a firm lead in La Liga, and as tempting as it would be to write off Barca’s loss to Real Sociedad as a one-off, it’s actually better if Hansi Flick and friends take something out of it.
Because as much as Barcelona were clearly hurt by Lamine Yamal’s absence as the one-on-one maven and creator of chaos on that right flank, there’s no excuse for Barca to have created as few clear-cut opportunities as they did, even without the benefit of the greatest teenage phenom the game has seen since Lionel Messi himself.
The first mistake Barcelona made with Yamal out was keeping Raphinha on the left side instead of starting him on the right. Raphinha as a floating playmaker on the left wing only works when Barca are able to 1) Play heavily on the counter and 2) Start Yamal, who allows Raphinha more space inside by holding width.
Barcelona started Fermin Lopez on the right wing, and while Fermin is a perfectly good La Liga starter and legitimately one of the better playmakers in European football, he is at his best in central areas of the field where he can playmake and interchange in tight spaces.
Fermin on the right wing is a sure way to play too condensed, and he often forced Robert Lewandowski to pull inward and away from the goal so that he and Pedri had a more physical player to shield them as a partner in one-twos.
Raphinha could then be neutralized off the ball or kept offsides, isolated on the left wing. And Raphinha holding width on the left is a sure way to take him out of the game, because if he’s not countering into space, the only way he’s going to score is by cutting inside onto his left foot from the right side of the attack.
Barcelona played right into La Real’s hands with a possession-heavy setup that did not maximize the width of the pitch, enabling La Real to hold their position, sit back, and watch as Barcelona played themselves into mistakes that the underdogs could then counter.
Flick was struck by his own proverbial sword, and he could have easily lost by more than one goal, with La Real producing the better chances purely because Barcelona had to make so many high-risk passes in tight spaces over the middle that Real Sociedad could then spread wide to Takefusa Kubo as an outlet on the counter.
Other clubs in Spain and Europe are going to take this game without Yamal as a blueprint for how to compete against Barcelona even with Yamal, and Flick was always going to have to anticipate other great managers, such as Imanol Alguacil, adapting to his playing style and finding a weakness after a honeymoon period of dominance.
Barcelona still look like the best team in European football right now, but they are going to have to find ways to avoid playing too centrally in attack, improve their own transition defense (which Real Madrid themselves would have exploited had Kylian Mbappe been more up to it), and remember the strengths and weaknesses of their personnel.
Above all else, in these games, Flick is going to have to take a page out of Xavi’s book to win ugly. In a match like this one, Flick has to instruct his players to stay wide, play it safe with their passing, and know that they are going to have to ride Lewandowski’s finishing in order to eek out an ugly victory.
