La Liga 2020/21: Barcelona vs Real Sociedad – tactical analysis

Barcelona welcomed Real Sociedad to the Camp Nou for another thrilling La Liga contest. Even though they werent in great form, Ronald Koemans troops snatched away all three points from Imanol Alguacil in the Catalan capital.

Still, it was a true game of two halves, which will also be addressed in the full analysis. That being said, this tactical analysis will focus on both teams tactics and how they sought to outplay one another.

Lineups

Barcelona are a team ridden with injuries and as such, Koeman is forced to experiment week in week out. Marc-André ter Stegen, however, is a steady presence between the sticks but ahead of him, he found two youngsters, Ronald Araújo and Óscar Mingueza since the coach decided to drop Clément Lenglet.

Jordi Alba and Sergiño Dest were the full-backs while Sergio Busquets, Frenkie de Jong and Pedri were positioned in midfield. Up top, Martin Braithwaite started on the left, Lionel Messi down the middle and Antoine Griezmann was the right inside forward.

Barcelona were deployed in a 4-2-3-1 formation on paper but that seemed more like the traditional 4-3-3 on the pitch with Pedri and De Jong as interiors.

Real Sociedad also had a couple of big absences, mainly in the form of David Silva and Mikel Oyarzabal, two of their most important players within the squad. Other than that, Alguacil opted for a strong side with Álex Remiro manning the sticks and a quartet of Nacho Monreal, Robin Le Normand, Igor Zubeldia and Andoni Gorosabel in the backline.

In midfield, La Real had Martin Zubimendi as the lone pivot, supported by Mikel Merino and Ander Guevara as the interiors. Finally, in the forward line, we saw Portu on the left, Willian José down the middle and Adnan Januzaj on the right.

Real Sociedad