Barcelona stumble to 2-2 draw against Real Sociedad

15 FC Barcelona had to settle for a 2-2 away draw against Real Sociedad here Saturday in a closely matched LaLiga contest at Anoeta stadium, a result that could allow Real Madrid to take over first place ahead of next week's Clasico.

Anoeta has often been a challenging venue for Barcelona over the past dozen years, and the task figured to be even tougher this season considering Real Sociedad's strong play in the first half of the season and top-five position in the standings.

The Catalan club found themselves on their heels in the early going and having to fend off a spirited attack led by Mikel Oyarzabal, who had two chances to score against goalie Marc-Andre ter Stegen before the 10-minute mark, Efe news reported.

That aggressive play paid off in the 11th minute, when the referee awarded a penalty for a Sergio Busquet foul on Diego Llorente in the area.

Oyarzabal did the honours from the 12-yard mark, firing to the left-hand corner as Ter Stegen was moving to the other side to make the score 1-0.

Real Sociedad then continued to pose a threat in Barcelona's area with attacking forays led by Martin Odegaard and Oyarzabal.

Barcelona, meanwhile, struggled to rev up their attack, although a potent shot from the edge of the box by Luis Suarez forced keeper Alex Remiro to make a save in the 15th minute.

The visitors only needed a slight opening though to open the scoring and that came in the 37th minute when Suarez took possession of a ball at midfield and set up Antoine Griezmann for a score on the counter-attack.

The Frenchman received the ball in stride and then chipped it over the head of Remiro while Real Sociedad's players were scrambling back into position.

Shortly after the break, Barcelona appeared to seize full control of the contest when Lionel Messi avoided an offside trap and received a pass from Busquets before setting up Suarez for a close-range goal that made the score 2-1 in minute 48.

The Catalans then had two good chances to extend their lead, but Remiro saved a shot by Griezmann and Real Sociedad stopped a Gerard Pique header off a corner kick at the goal line.

Having dodged those bullets, Real Sociedad earned the 2-2 equaliser in the 61st minute when Swedish forward Alexander Isak scored from close range after Ter Stegen had batted away a shot by Monreal.

Plenty of time remained on the clock, although the best chance came with time winding down in second-half stoppage time.

Barcelona clamoured for a penalty on a play in which Llorente shoved Pique in the box as he was trying to score on a cross to the far post, but the referee decided not to point to the spot and a VAR review did not change the call on the field.

Afterward, Busquets weighed in on his penalty and the lack of a call on Llorente.

"In the first penalty, it's clear there was a struggle, where I may have grabbed (Llorente's jersey) a little ... but if you set the bar there it's going to be difficult not to call (other) penalties during the match, especially on plays in the area like corner kicks or free kicks," the midfielder said.

"Gerard's (play) is another example of that and was even clearer than mine. The referee had to have seen it, and if not then it's up to VAR, but now that the game's over there's not much that can be done."

With the result, Barcelona (35 points) have a tenuous hold on first place and will fall to second if Real Madrid (34 points) can go on the road and defeat Valencia on Sunday.

The two arch-rivals have a game in hand on the other 18 LaLiga teams because the Spanish Clasico, originally scheduled for October 26, was postponed due to protests in the Catalonia region.

That much-anticipated match will be played on Wednesday at Camp Nou.

Real Sociedad provisionally climbed to the fourth place with 28 points, but were pushed down to fifth by Atletico Madrid who continued their comeback with a 2-0 win over Osasuna later in the night.

( With inputs from IANS )