It’s time for midweek fixtures in all the premier football leagues around Europe ahead of the Christmas week. Focusing on La Liga, in one of the most competitive seasons, heavyweights Real Madrid and Barcelona have picked 3 points on Wednesday. As the table stands, Barcelona made their way up to the fifth spot, and Real Madrid is placed third behind Atletico Madrid and Real Sociedad.
Barcelona vs Real Sociedad:
In one of the worst seasons starts, Barcelona found themselves languishing below the top 5 spots as the league transpired. However, with a win against 2nd placed Sociedad on Wednesday they have reignited their push for the title race. The Spanish giants came back from behind to bag all 3 points 2-1 in the La Liga fixture.
Sociedad who never won in Camp Nou in 25 years, opened the scoresheet with Willian Jose’s strike in the 26th minute. Jose scored with his right foot from close range after a Portu corner. It was Jordi Alaba who brought Barca back to level terms in the 31st minute after a fine interchange of passes between Antoine Griezmann and Pedri.
Frankie De Jong gave Barca a 42nd-minute lead with a right-foot drive. De Jong who came to Barca from Ajax, based on a promising kick start to his career, found the back of the net for the first time since February. “It was our best game of the season. We came into it knowing very well what we had to do,” said left-back Alba post-game.
Real Madrid vs Athletic Club:
Zinedine Zidane’s boys registered a clinical victory over Athletic at home on Wednesday, courtesy of Karim Benzema’s brace and Tony Kroos. It was the German attacking midfielder’s goal that gave Madrid the lead at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano stadium, who rifled in a pass from Vinícius Júnior from outside the area.
Bilbao were reduced to 10 men after Raúl García saw a red in the 14th minute It was his second yellow card for stomping the foot of Toni Kroos during a tackle. Bilbao compensated with solid team defending and pressed for an equalizer which came in the 53rd minute. Right-back Ander Capa was the scorer for Bilbao.
Dani Carvajal lobbed in a cross for Benzema to head home for the 75th-minute winner. The French forward however once again netted in stoppage time.
