The leaders march on (0-2)

The leaders march on (0-2)
Goals from Iniesta and Eto'o sealed a deserved win for Barça in Anoeta. The win means that whatever happens this weekend, FC Barcelona will stay on top of the league.

Real Sociedad allowed Barça to dominate the possession right from the start, and Barça used that to their advantage, with Xavi Hernández hitting the back of the home net early on in the game, tapping in a Gio strike, only to see his effort ruled out for offside by match official Teixera Vitienes.

Pressure from Real

But despite firing that early warning, Rijkaard’s side struggled to get into their rhythm against some intense defending from the Real Sociedad back four. In the first twenty minutes, Barça’s best chance came from a quick counter attack that ended with an Eto’o drive being delivered straight into the hands of Real keeper Bravo. The Cameroonian was playing further out on the left than usual, offering Ronaldinho the chance for more freedom of movement in the centre.

Xavi again

Xavi came close to scoring in the 28th minute when he latched onto a tremendous Ronaldinho assist, but Bravo was at hand once again to keep things scoreless. Real did create a few moments of difficulty at the back for Barça, with Savio, as expected, making some penetrating runs from the left before trying to pick out Kovacevic’s head, but invariably saw his attempts intercepted by the solid defensive duo of Thuram and Puyol.

No score at the break

But most of the half was one-way traffic towards Bravo’s goal, with Iniesta surprising all in the 32nd minute with a quickly taken corner, and his shot from the edge of the area once again brought out the best in Bravo. So, Barça had failed to turn any of that pressure into goals, and the score at half time was the same as when the game had started.

Frenetic restart

FC Barcelona could not afford to let things stay like that much longer, and the second half could not have got off to a better start. Two minutes from the restart, another fantastic assist from Ronaldinho found Iniesta who dribbled around the keeper to slot home Barça’s first. Real were stunned by the goal, and almost went two down when Messi slalomed the ball around the home defence, but narrowly missed the target with the ensuing shot. Real immediately responded with a Savio chance that found the side netting, but that warning merely served to fire Barça up even more and Eto’o very nearly made it two for the visitors with an impressive strike that struck Bravo’s body in the 55th minute.

A professional display

Such a dizzy pace could never last for a whole 45 minutes, and the rest of the game was played a far more sedate rhythm. Barça professionally neutralised anything Real tried to throw their way, while creating plenty of danger of their own, with some terrific distribution by Ronaldinho being one of the main reasons. With a quarter of an hour left, Lotina sent forward Estrado on for Xabi Prieto as the Basque side opted to go all out in search of a valuable point. But having surrendered much of their defensive unity in doing so, they were leaving themselves open to much more threat from a Barça forward line that suddenly found itself with far more space in which to manoeuvre.

Eto'o settles affairs

A Savio strike from the edge of the area suggested the gamble may be about to pay off for Real, but immediately after Ronaldinho produced another masterstroke, threading a delightful pass to the incoming Eto'o who made no mistake against Bravo to secure the three points in the 87th minute. The 2-0 win very much puts Barcelona in the driving seat in La Liga, and with Sevilla and Madrid about to play each other on Sunday, this win at Real Sociedad means they are on better course than ever for a third consecutive league championship title.