BARCELONA 1-3 REAL SOCIEDAD

Barcelona lost ground in the La Liga title race
as they were shocked 3-1 by Real Sociedad on
Saturday evening.
An Alex Song own-goal 10 minutes from half-
time was quickly cancelled out by a Lionel
Messi goal that saw the Argentine surpass
Raul's tally for Real Madrid and become the
Spanish top flight's third top scorer in
history, but things took a turn for the worse
after the break for the Catalans.
Barca were undone by two strikes early in the
second half, Griezmann scoring in the 54th
minute after excellent work from Carlos Vela
and David Zurutuza adding a third five
minutes later.
Sociedad move up to fifth, while Barca, who
saw coach Gerardo Martino sent to the stands
at half-time, could drop to third if Atletico
Madrid avoid defeat against Osasuna on
Sunday.
It took 20 minutes for the first threatening
moment of the match to arrive as Barca
opened up La Real's defence through Andres
Iniesta and Pedro.
The duo exchanged a number of passes before
a chance opened up for Pedro, but he curled
his effort wide of goal without testing Claudio
Bravo.
Sociedad then made the breakthrough as
Gorka Elustondo forced an error from Song .
Sergio Canales delivered a pinpoint cross into
the penalty area where Elustondo, who had
got in front of the Cameroon international,
saw his header deflect off Song's chest and fly
past Victor Valdes.
Sociedad's lead only lasted four minutes as
Messi, anonymous in the opening half-hour,
levelled with a low drive from the edge of the
penalty area.
After flicking the ball out to Martin Montoya,
the Argentine met his return pass after Sergio
Busquets had let it run through his legs and
made no mistake with a clinical finish.
Both sides had chances to move ahead at the
start of the second half. but it was Sociedad
who got a second goal as Griezmann netted
his 15th of the season in the league.
Vela was released behind the Barca defence
and rolled the ball across the penalty area for
Griezmann, who fired first time beyond
Valdes.
Things soon got even better for the hosts as
they extended their advantage, with
Griezmann heavily involved again.
The Frenchman spotted the late run of
Zurutuza into the penalty area and the
midfielder flicked the ball past Valdes to leave
Barca with a mountain to climb.
Even the introduction of Cesc Fabregas and
Alexis Sanchez could not rouse Barca, who
were lucky not to concede a fourth goal as
Vela fired against the post in the final 10
minutes.