Luis Suarez helped Barcelona to come from behind at Real Sociedad and lead, but Ernesto Valverde's men could not secure victory.
Match Report
Barcelona suffered a potentially costly slip-up ahead of Wednesday's Clasico as they were held to a 2-2 draw at Real Sociedad.
Luis Suarez scored one goal and made another as Ernesto Valverde's men, who had won their previous six games in all competitions, came from behind to lead at Anoeta.
However, Alexander Isak's 62nd-minute strike earned fourth-placed Sociedad a deserved share of the spoils, meaning Real Madrid now have the chance to move two points clear at the top of LaLiga with victory at Valencia on Sunday.
Barca could have few complaints about their failure to win, having been outplayed for large parts of an entertaining contest, and the champions will know they must deliver an improved display against Madrid in their next match.
La Liga Standings
Match Events
12' Penalty Goal! Real Sociedad 1-0 Barcelona (Oyarzabal)
Oyarzabal takes his time with the run-up before slotting the ball into the bottom left-hand corner after sending Ter Stegen the wrong way.
15' CHANCE! Suarez's shot stopped by Remiro
The ball drops kindly for Suarez on the edge of the box and he then attempts a half-volley from some 25 yards out, but his powerful effort is pushed wide by Remiro.
38' GOAL! Real Sociedad 1-1 Barcelona (Griezmann)
Suarez picks the ball up near the halfway line before driving forward and then sliding a neat pass through to Griezmann, and the attacker then surges into the left-hand side of the box before dinking it over Remiro.
49' GOAL! Real Sociedad 1-2 Barcelona (Suarez)
Suarez makes it 2-1 to Barcelona! Busquets produces an excellent pass to pick out the run of Messi as he beats the offside trap, and Messi then runs through on goal before squaring it to Suarez who taps home.
62' GOAL! Real Sociedad 2-2 Barcelona (Isak)
Isak makes it 2-2! Oyarzabal picks up the ball on the left-hand side of the box before finding Monreal on the overlap, and the full-back then sees Ter Stegen parry his delivery into the path of Isak who finds the net from close range.
70' Ter Stegen makes brilliant double-save
CLOSE! Sociedad go close on a number of occasions as Merino almost scores with a close-range header before Willian Jose also squanders a promising opportunity on the turn. Sociedad also see their penalty appeals turned down as the ball deflects off Pique's upper body.
90+3' No penalty? Pique has been taken down in the box!
Barcelona are appealing for a penalty as Pique goes to ground in the six-yard box following Suarez's delivery, but the referee says play on.
Wuzoptuy
4010
Since Coutinho is on loan am sure Barca can lend a goal from his three at Bayern....
kecekouz
1214
This is the poorest I've seen Messi in a very very long time. Truth is, there's a fundamental problem with Barca. We no longer have press resistant excellent ball playing midfielders i.e. Xavi & Iniesta and as such will need to pull our socks up and work extremely hard - run and close up spaces! Odegaard had one hell pf a party in midfield, we couldn't get close to him and this is sociedad! What happens when we play Liverpool and the likes in UCL??? Griezmann ran his socks off but had no support from the others - all hands needs to be on deck else we'd be annihilated once again. We need to sign younger players with legs, we are just too slow and the earlier we realised that and turn up the pace going forward the better. Sociedad had one hell of a game today. My goodness!!
ronnie_luv
1015
today the 'M' from 'MSG' was missing!
ShashankKandel
885
even as a barca fan.. i can say that martin ordegaard will be the.. new magician of laliga
Lonacekmsz
733
they performed baddy today & seem that's the midfielder they were weak , M was silent today
Nadan7
702
Barcelona fans are on their way to munchen to get Coutinho back from loan before el clasico 😂😉
ishti
534
very true
TheDarKnight13
466
Match Highlights : 1. Messi always forgets the password against any good team 2. Suarez is the master of unnecessary diving. Even Neymar can learn from him. 3. Vidal is not there to play football but for wrestling. 4. De Jong the most overrated mid fielder. Odegaard is way better than him.
amridul07
327
dont you guys think that odegaard can be the next magician of La Liga and the next Kroos of Real Madrid. Hala Madrid
Nadan7
277
Poor game from Barcelona both first and second half. Valverde doesn’t learn how to change tactics when the opponents are pressing very high and he always get punished for that every time. He should do something before el clasico otherwise Barcelona will lose
Ossboy
225
Marin Odegaard, me and all Real Madrid fans thank you for this performance. We will love you forever
Archibale
116
GIF GIF GIF!: http://bit.ly/2YNt0Po
baucertuz
106
I see RM winning the el classico as well as Liga title... although I am a Barca and die hard Messi fan, but I see improved RM after initial struggle...take Messi out and barca look just average....ucl is simply a dream..if you know what I mean
JohnHalamadrid
8
Match Highlights : 1. Messi always forgets the password against any good team 2. Suarez is the master of unnecessary diving. Even Neymar can learn from him. 3. Vidal is not there to play football but for wrestling. 4. De Jong the most overrated mid fielder. Odegaard is way better than him.
Odegaard is miles above De Jong