Spanish La Liga – Barcelona vs. Real Sociedad – Second Half Report (Part 1)
With the second half starting, Barcelona were leading the game with a two goal margin. It was definitely what the Catalan coach Josep Guardiola was looking for. He wanted to take the early advantage on a mid table team so he could build the pressure on them
in order to continue his team’s top form and the top position on the Spanish La Liga points table.
Goals from David Villa and Andres Iniesta and two assists from Pedro Rodriguez were enough to put Barcelona at a two goal lead as the Blaugrana wearing side were striding forward towards victory. Josep Guardiola and Martin Lasarte Arrospide decided not to
change anything during the start of the second half as both of them were satisfied with the squad that they sent in the first.
The second half also started with Barcelona playing their “tiki taka” style of play as they moved the ball around Real Sociedad’s half. The Spanish Champions played Javier Mascherano for the 7th time during the Spanish La Liga. It was his 5th
start and he was actually getting the hang of Spanish Football.
Barcelona were able to make it 3 in only 2 minutes. It was a complete performance from the Spanish Champions and if there was anything that the Catalan Giants were missing out on, it was a goal from Lionel Messi and that was exactly what the Catalan Giants
managed to pull off right after two minutes of the second half. It was Xavi Hernandez who started the move from the midfield as he passed the ball onto Lionel Messi. The Argentinean and the Brazilian full back Daniel Alves played some lovely one-twos and Messi
found himself alone in front of goal. With “Leo” alone in front of goal, there is definitely no one to stop him as he shot the ball with his stronger left foot and found the back of the net to stretch the lead to three goals.
Barcelona were now simply in total control of the game. The Catalan Giants managed to score 19 goals in the past 4 games including the game against Real Zaragoza, including the 3 goals that they scored till the 47th minute of the game. Barcelona
were now definitely heading towards the top spot of the points table in the Spanish La Liga.
During the 51st minute it was the Argentinean midfielder Javier Mascherano who was taken off for the young holding midfielder Sergio Busquets. There was definitely no rest for Busquets as he featured during the game after they were lading with
a three goal margin. The decision was quite surprising as many thought that Xavi Hernandez might be rested by Guardiola decided to keep his best midfielder on the pitch.
While Barcelona were enjoying 70% possession in the first half, they managed to increase it during the second as it rose up to 72%. This was basically the reason why Real Sociedad decided to change a striker with a midfielder to add an extra man in the midfield.
Antoine Griezmann was taken off for Zurutuza as Martin Lazarte decided to change the cause of the game.
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