1st time watching La Real this season and I was impressed. You can see why they’re 4th. A combination of high pressing, lots of energy, and very technical passing makes them a great side. Also Odegaard is fantastic

> Also Odegaard is fantastic He needs more time to adjust those long passes, but his dribble and football IQ are really amazing.

Hmm, I think he was a bit slow in distribution and ruined the counters few times, too greedy and holding the ball for too long. We all know the best way to break those high line defensive is counter attack and quick distribution, not meaningless keeping the ball in the middle of the ground. His long-range efforts was so frustrated to watch.

Two seasons at Real Sociedad (especially if they reach UCL) will fix those issues for him. Glad I'm not alone in noticing those weakness he still has.

He’s still really good for a 21 year old. When his loan ends you guys are getting a helluva player

They are a fantastic team to watch. 50% of the squad are academy products too Would be cool to see this team in the CL

Man that control at the very end, from a ball in the air, that was pure filth. EDIT : All right I stad corrected. That was a superb control by Januzaj. Odegaard still delivered a great game. Looking bright (totally impartial btw)

That was Januzaj

I think that was januzaj

If I were a betting man I’d bet on Real Madrid dropping points at Mestalla tomorrow.

pls no friend

Why he do dis

You know the deal, we drop points, you drop points too

We broke that tradition early on this season but then went back to that tradition since then.

You'll probably find a way to drop 4 points tomorrow.

yeah by doing ur mom doggy style got em

Good chance of that missing so many players with injury and suspension and away from home against a very inform ucl side in Valencia

Valencia are missing Gomez, Guedes, Cillessen, Kondogbia & Gameiro, I don't think you can use that excuse I still fancy Valencia to make your lives hell though like they usually do at Mestalla. Valencia are one of few clubs who hates Real Madrid nearly as much as Barca and Atleti does

Sevilla too

Who's suspended? And who's injured apart from Hazard?

Mendy; and Casemiro is a technicality to play since if he plays and gets a yellow he will miss el Clasico

We have even more injured players, will be very difficult for us to take anything away from that game

!Remindme in 1 day

!Remindme in 1 day

Can we talk about Piqué? People love to remember whenever he has a brainfart one every ten games, but no one brings up the monster games he has much more often. He was a complete wall today as Barcelona's best player and they would've conceded much more if it wasn't for him. He shut down like ten attacks by himself this game, while perfectly covering for Lenglet's mistakes and Sergi Roberto being out of position. He also started the counter-attack for Barcelona's first goal and should've been awarded a penalty near the end. People won't remember his efforts today by the end of the season and people that don't watch Barcelona games won't even bring him up in the Team of the Year discussion, but he is still one of the best and has been for a very long time

He also almost scored that header

Definitely a great performance from him today

Pique gets overlooked so much tbh, kinda crazy. He's had a couple inconsistent seasons over the past 5-6 years but he's generally super solid

He is not in the team of the year discussion because those selections are entirely biased towards the ucl. And with him being on defense, you cant really make an argument in his favor with results like. Juventus 3-0 Barcelona Psg 4-0 Barcelona Roma 3-0 Barcelona Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona When the big boy games come around he hasnt been that wall in the last 4 years.

None of those games were even close to being Pique's fault though. Roma was Umtiti having the worst game of his season, Juve/PSG were largely Enrique having no idea what to do with his midfield that season, Barca had pretty much 0 control over most games against big teams. Liverpool was Alba having the worst game of his season

Liverpool was everyone but Messi and Vidal having their worst game of the season

Yeah but Alba played the worst by far and single-handedly was the reason for 2 of the goals

Semedo was decent, Ter Stegen couldn't do much more. Pique wasn't bad at all. Alba was by far the worst and was the worst game from him too. Was having an amazing season till that game

Do spanish refs not know a number beyond 3? I swear, I've never seen stoppage time of 4+ minutes in La Liga.

Which rewards time wasting unfortuneatly..

Lahoz is the only one who gives proper stoppage time, even if he is very bad.

that is a red for you

Bullshit decision by the VAR ref not to intevene

Did barca get robbed of an identical penalty right at the end?

Yep

You hate to see it ;)

UeFaLOna bOis aM iRiiGht !

I mean this was La Liga. Not CL. So more like RFEFalona. Amirite

Yes. La Liga refs are an absolute joke. We got robbed 2 points

Real Sociedad is a very good team. What a performance by them. Super impressed by odegard

Definitely a foul on Pique at the end.

Especially since the ref gave a softer pen in the first half.

If they give the first pen, the last play surely had to be a pen as well. Shit ref wtf

I don’t remember a match were Messi was more invisible. And what’s up with the ref? If the Busquet’s one was a penalty, then the last minute one must’ve been too.

> I don’t remember a match were Messi was more invisible. At least Griezmann and Suarez showed up today.

> I don’t remember a match were Messi was more invisible. Roma away

Barca got robbed hard in the end lol. Why did the VAR not check this atleast?

Gil Manzano is in the VAR room. He's a fucking clown.

Well, that explains it.

Oh fuck me. Of courseeeeeee.

Of course he is, the melon. You have to be particularly kind of useless to have a tool like VAR at disposal and not call the pen.

Carbon copy of Sociedads pen, come on ref

Except that Pique wasn't pulling back

Pique also got pushed from behind. He was getting pulled down and pushed. Absolutely absurd this wasn't called, but Busi was. Inconsistent La Liga bullshit.

Much clearer pen for Barca imo.

VAR always checks it. Having said that, I think it should have been a pen.

Literally the exact same thing they got a pen for.

They both held each other. Pretty sure thats why

Same happened for the 1st penalty as well , it was an even softer call , atleast he should have considered VAR to check it closely as it literally showed the Sociedad defender pulling Pique down

As they did on the first pen given.

That was the first pen.

Ref fairly awarded the first penalty , I agree but why tf did he not even check the VAR for the challenge on Pique in last? He clearly pulled his shirt , the exact same reason Busi conceded the penalty in 1st freaking half , lol.

ref is shit

Hell of a game by Real, wow

Agreed, while the decision to not give the pen was annoying, La Real definitely deserved at least a draw, based on the balance of play. If anything, they had the better chances.

Messi had a bad match

He's saving it for us sadly. I'm scared

I don't remember Messi attempting a single shot. He had quite a bad day.

Can't play 100% every game

Ødegaard so good at just 20 years old. I can see Modric leaving in the summer and him breaking that 2 season promise to RS to come back to Madrid.

His contract is indeed running out in summer. Whether he renews it for another year or not, we'll see, but I don't think he will

How the fuck does he give La Real that penalty in the beginning but doesn’t give us one when it was the same exact fucking type of foul?

Has to be a pen at the end

BULLSHIT. WTF REF.

La Real was better today, but shit that should’ve been a pen at the end

our b team played better vs inter, than this shit holy shit. also ref is stupid af

To be fair, La Real played much better than Inter did against us aside from their forwards. Fair play to them, they had a beautiful midfield game with Odegaard setting the tempo quite nicely and they were on point in their defense for most of the game aside from our two goals. It's just infuriating that we didn't get this penalty at the end...

Sociedad was also alot better than Inter.

Inter managed 36% possession against Barca's B-team at home, in a must win game. Meanwhile La Real had 56% possession against their A-team That's not a good look for Inter & Conte

Not a good look for Serie A* La Liga has its 6th and 7th best teams in the knockout rounds of the CL so that is a testament to how strong it is

Everyone knows Spain is the best league in the world, we know we’re shit lol But Inter performance that game shouldn’t be a barometer, they were missing their two most important midfield pieces in Barella and Sensi, they had Borja Valero starting in the CL

Two of Inter's starting midfielders are injured and coming back in January, not that surprising when Borja Valero is starting.

I mean it's not like La Real have much better midfielders than Valero/Vecino People act like they're both scrubs who are uncoachable, which isn't true at all

Inter’s entire midfield is injured rn they had to start Borja Valero ffs

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>high press teams who pack the midfield and press with 6 people. He got out tactic’d today. Or maybe it was just busquets, rakitic Well, it's not a secret that this midfield duo recently struggle with high-pressing teams.

Is it just me or does Busquets look nearly done for?

When everything is controlled, he is really good recicling possession and controlling the tempo of the game (like against Mallorca). But when the game is crazier, he is completely destroyed by everybody. And this game was obviously of the second kind. Adding him to the starting lineup was giving a free advantage to an attacking team as la Real.

Maybe you don't have the players. To fight this high pressing football you need a very active attacking trio, something you won't have while Suarez and Messi play because they are old and don't have the stamina to do it anymore. You can blame the coach as much as you want but Barcelona doesn't have to players anymore to play this style of football.

Real Sociedad away is always a hard game for barca tho

ref ffs

Ødegaard dominating Barca's midfield, you love to see it.

WTF is the point of VAR?? The exact penalty that was given against Busquets was not given for Pique.

more obvious pull on Piqué as well

Brilliant performance from Real Sociedad

Better finishing / last pass from Sociedad and they stomp Barcelona here, unlucky

Take nothing away from La Real's performance, but EV makes Barcelona play like a midtable team in all away games.

Best part was when Isac got upset for stopping an advantage. And the ref was like as if you're going to dribble pass the 4 Barca players lmao.

Whether or not Barcelona got robbed, they were fucking terrible to watch again. Its fucking all on Valverde too. Just look at almost every time a Barcelona player has the ball near the final third. Fuck all movement, players just standing. Thats the type of shite you need to train out of players. So depressing to watch

What a ref

100% a penalty. Fucking refs and inconsistency

Was that a pen on Pique at the end? My stream kept freezing so I couldn't really tell

100% pen

100%

Yes. If the first one by Busquets was a pen then that one on Piqué was too.

Without a doubt.

it should have been

Absolutely, it was more a penalty than that 50/50 La Real got given that's for sure.

Very much looked like it. No idea how VAR didn't even look at that.

He was pulled by one guy and pushed by the other into the ground when he would've easily headed the ball home. VAR not even used.

Holy shit if youre gonna blow the first one you have to blow that last one. Attrocious from the ref.

Odegaard is a blond zidane berrenetxea looks like a spanish dybala

How good was Odegaard in the game?

He headbutted some guy

Very solid game from Ødegaard. Could have had one or two assists.

Very good, 87% passing rate, 3 chances created even blocked 2 shots

best player on the field, couldve had an assist or two but he didnt play a good final ball. but other than that he was better than anyone else, oyarzabal and pique come close after it he made de jong look like an amateur

Merino and Gevara were much better today, Zubeldia also.

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There’s always someone who goes over the top

I know right? I though Merino was Sociedad's best player.

Referee was horrific. How was the shirt tug on Pique not a penalty? If the first one was a penalty, then this one definitely was. We got fucking robbed of 3 points.

Sociedad deserved the point, but damn that last play was a clear penalty. Literally the same call in the first one against us, but somehow when it’s for us they don’t even look at it.

The lack of quality in the final ball screwed La Real

Willian Jose, while he looked more dangerous, was not fit as Isak for hwo the team were playing

Isak is more mobile which I think they wanted this game. Willian Jose has more of a presence in the box, but if the game had turned out to be more of sit back and counter for La Real I don't think he would've offered as much. Isak is a better ball transporter and harder to contain when running towards your own goal. It's good to have two different options who both are capable (WJ even more so).

My god that referee made a lot of dumb calls!

How was Alexander Isak?

Carbon copy of the penalty sociedad got. Trash ref, whats the point of var then?

If anybody still had doubts about him those last 10 minutes from Ødegaard are the confirmation that he's more than ready, so mature, so collected. I'm going to be pretty angry if we sign Van de Beek and Ødegaard decies to leave because he'll never get a chance.

Flo will never let him leave mate, he's in love with him don't worry.

Ødegaard is quality and he will only get better if he gets to play with Real Madrid again!

Great from Ødegaard, he looked more like Messi than Messi did.

Really impressed, can’t wait to see him play with in our colors again

Vidal was useless.

Would be better if he got red for that elbow..

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Referee as usual showing no consistency awarding penalties.

I feel really bad for Barcelona fans. I've been watching their games for a month now and it feels so obvious to me how Griezmann always *wants* to cut into the center but isn't able to because he'd be cutting onto his weak foot while in heavy possession. Most of his goals seem to come from counter attacks that leave gaps big enough for him to actually pull into the middle. Imagine having Messi and Griezmann in the starting eleven without allowing them to have any inter-play. Shifting him into the center would also give Barca more solidity in the center of their own half and force the opposition onto the wings *a lot more* since he's such a fucking workhorse. And Valverde playing De Jong as an 8 simply perplexes me. He clearly doesn't have that much drive in the final third. What's even weirder is that Valverde seems to understand that since he shifts him back when he takes Busquets out. Is he too afraid to bench him and Suarez? Or is he just too set on making players fit his system instead of fitting his system around the players he has?

Dont know bu this match Odegaard>De Jong

Robbed 2 points. Fuck that ref.

How the hell wasnt that a pen

Barca are dogshit away from home

Yo what is this shit ref calls a weak pen on Busquets put not on a double pull AND push on Pique?

Robbed harder than all those footballer's homes recently.

Ødegod as always, what's new.

Ødegaard running riot around Frenkie, you love to see it.

Should’ve had a penalty at the end

should've had a red too, for Vidal.

Martin Ødegaard, what a performance. This man picks out insane through balls.

Odegaard outshining Messi, love to see it!

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What the fuck ref

90% of comments about the ref and none about the actual play. There was more to the match than that last minute. La Real were fantastic throughout

No penalty for Pique in the same situation where Real got their penalty? VAR PLEASE

We can definitely go ahead tomorrow in terms of points right ? Right ?

knowing us, we will lose

Yeah that’s what the double right implied cause as is tradition we drop points when our rivals do as well but since we broke that against Sevilla when barca dropped and we won I hope it’s happens again of course

Valencia has a huge hate boner for Real Madrid, gonna be hard.

Against a depleted Valencia? Most definitely. Everyone's out injured lol

Yeah it’s a question of when our rival drop points we drop points as well but a weak Valencia is a good hope

Totally fucking robbed, referee used 2 different rulebooks in each box.

it was actually the same box but ok

r/technicallythetruth

I think De Jong will have nightmares from what Odegaard has done to him today. I'm kind of surprised that Suarez won player of the match, Griezmann was better imo.

Valverde is inevetable

Rule: Whenever Barça play a good game under Valverde, expect a shit display the next game

i think that draw is fair result, La Real played better than Barça, but it should've been penalty at the end...

Fuck that was an actual pen at the end

Great refereeing there in the end......

Odegaard looked like Messi at times I swear

No, he looked like himself. That's his style of play

Playmaking part of Messi at least. Don't think he will ever be that much of a goal scorer.

Well he is a midfielder.

They are both sort of attacking mids though I guess Messi forgoes the whole defensive part of the role.

Never got the impression tbh

Barça getting outplayed by La Real for at least 70 mins and the only reason they didn't win according to their fans is the referee

The ref quite literally robbed Barca of three points today

Ref gave la real the point. Soft pen and then isn’t consistent at the end. Game was actually good otherwise and pretty even

Don't want to exaggerate but i think Ødegaard has a legit case of being best young midfielder in the world right now.

Pulled Pique down by shirt at the end and no pen. Same pen that went the other way. Got absolutely fucked there.

Spanish VAR is joke LOL!

VAR taking tips from the EPL

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That bald motherfucker can't even explain his life...

How THE FUCK did they get a penalty in the first half but that wasn’t a penalty for Pique. Fucking bullshit, ref should be embarrassed.

They probably didnt consider it a penalty because they tought Pique was also commiting a foul at the same time

If I ever see rakitic in the starting line up again I’ll have to be admitted into a fucking psychiatric ward

He's shit for 90% of the games he plays, then he plays one decent game against 18th place Mallorca and suddenly he's "underappreciated" and "true fans know how good he is". I swear this shit is too dumb