Soccer Spain LaLiga Prediction

Barcelona vs Real Sociedad - Match Preview

⚽ 20 May 2023 - 19:00 GMT +0

Barcelona clinched their first La Liga (LL) title since Lionel Messi's departure, defeating crosstown rivals Espanyol 4-2 last Sunday. After their celebrations were halted when Espanyol fans invaded the pitch, the champions had an open-bus parade through the Catalan capital on Monday with nearly 80,000 fans celebrating their first men's league title since 2019 in addition to the women's title.

The celebrations could carry on through this weekend if their recent success against Real Sociedad can continue. Barça are on a six-game winning run in the top-flight against Real Sociedad after taking out the reverse fixture 4-1, their longest winning sequence in this fixture since the 1950s. Playing at Camp Nou affords them a great opportunity to extend that record as the hosts haven't lost a LL H2H since May 1991, winning the last 24 such games!

Fourth-placed Sociedad is well-placed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2013/14, but a defeat here could make things tricky. Things would have been better if they hadn’t dropped a 2-0 lead last weekend en route to a 2-2 draw against Girona, with coach Imanol Alguacil feeling they “deserved to win,” although the result extended their unbeaten sequence (W3, D2).

With tough games against Atlético Madrid and Sevilla yet to come, La Real can ill afford to drop points at a venue where they have lost 87% of their top-flight visits. Making things worse, an underwhelming recent seven-game away record (W1, D2, L4) doesn’t inspire confidence. Five of those saw Sociedad fail to score and a repeat can’t be ruled out against the league’s best defensive side, which has conceded just two home goals this season.

📋 Players to watch: Robert Lewandowski scored his sixth brace of the league campaign last weekend, the first of which came in the reverse fixture! Sociedad’s best chance to break their Camp Nou rut rests on Alexander Sørloth who scored on his last league visit to this city, albeit against Espanyol as part of his ten LL goals coming in nine wins.

⚡ Hot stat: Sociedad has conceded a league-low 3.82 corners per away game in this league campaign.