Barcelona on Sunday secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad to move back top of La Liga.
Aritz Elustondo’s early red card gave Hansi Flick’s side a comfortable afternoon, with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the score sheet.
Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis Balompie.
Photo: Reuters
Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the UEFA Champions League round-of-16 visit to face SL Benfica tomorrow and still move one point above Atletico.
“There were a lot of things that helped us a lot today, the red card, but also how we played, we were dominant after the red card,” Flick told reporters.
The German coach said before the game that Barca would fight hard to win all of the three major competitions they are in, and reiterated it afterward.
“Today we are happy with the three points and there’s a long way to go in La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League,” he said. “We will fight for every title and when we started the season no one [expected] this. We’re in this situation, that we can fight [for the trophies], and that’s what we want until the end of the season.”
Real Sociedad, ninth, threatened in the opening stages, but fell foul of Barcelona’s offside trap, with Sergio Gomez’s strike ruled out.
At the other end Barcelona playmaker Pedri Gonzalez came close when he pressed Real goalkeeper Alex Remiro and deflected his attempted clearance just over and onto the roof of the net.
The game swung Barcelona’s way when Elustondo was sent off in the 17th minute for pulling down Dani Olmo, who was running through on goal.
The hosts took the lead after 25 minutes when Olmo chipped the ball across for Martin to fire home the first goal of his career.
Four minutes later, Barca had their second, with Olmo involved again, this time his wayward shot deflected home by teammate Casado.
The enterprising Lamine Yamal teed up Pedri, but Remiro saved his shot from the edge of the penalty area as Barca dominated.
Pedri came close again after halftime with an effort from range which bounced back off the crossbar, shortly before Araujo claimed the third.
Remiro pushed out Lewandowski’s header from corner, but Araujo nodded home the rebound.
Lewandowski cleverly converted Barcelona’s fourth, prodding home Araujo’s low drive from distance.
The 36-year-old leads the league with 21 goals in 25 appearances.
“I’m very happy for our performance, and it was important to win and go back to being leaders,” Araujo told Movistar. “I’m happy for the good work we did and going first again.”
Since recovering from a bad knee injury, Araujo has been unable to reclaim a regular starting spot in defense.
“I came back from a long-term injury, I’m calm and going step by step. I believe in myself and my characteristics, and I am happy to help,” Araujo said. “I think it is important to have a competitive team to win titles, not just 11 players, but a good bench, too.”
Barcelona played out the final half an hour without incident, occasionally threatening, with substitute Ferran Torres twice coming close to a fifth.
“The red card, after that the game changed completely, we came here to try and dominate the ball,” Real Sociedad defender Javi Lopez said. “A sending off changes everything ... they also had luck on their goals and that makes it very difficult against one of the best teams in the world.”
Elsewhere, Valencia snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at CA Osasuna thanks to a remarkable backheel volley by Umar Sadiq.
The Nigeria striker netted a brace, the second of those his spectacular finish from Sergi Canos’ cross after 87 minutes to earn his team an important point in the relegation battle.
Valencia are 18th, one point ahead of Deportivo Alaves, who drew 1-1 at RCD Mallorca.
CD Leganes, 16th, beat Getafe 1-0 to move three points clear of the relegation zone.
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