After Ronald Araujo’s goal in the 92nd minute gave Barcelona an unjustifiable 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad on Saturday in La Liga, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez declared that football is “inexplicable.”
Xavi’s team inflicted the same agony on Real Sociedad in San Sebastian after losing to Real Madrid in the Clasico last Saturday, despite having the better of the game. Goalie Marc-Andre Ter Stegen kept the score tied throughout Barcelona’s lackluster second half play, and with just seconds left, Araujo headed home Ilkay Gundogan’s cross.
With the win, Barcelona moves up to third place, two points clear of second-place Real Madrid, who will host Rayo Vallecano on Sunday, and one point behind Atletico Madrid, who suffered a defeat at Las Palmas on Friday.
Girona, who defeated Osasuna 4-2 earlier on Saturday, has a three-point lead over Los Blancos in the La Liga standings.
Following Araujo’s late winner, Xavi told Movistar, “It tastes spectacular.”
“Football can be mysterious at times; we deserved to win last week but lost, and now we don’t deserve to win but win.”
Barcelona’s first league loss came from a double from Jude Bellingham, a Madrid midfielder, and Xavi said the team was still in shock because La Real outperformed them.
“Perhaps we had a hangover from the Clásico; we didn’t have the intensity we desired,” Xavi continued.
Robert Lewandowski, who returned from injury as a substitute against Madrid, was started by the coach for Barca.
But the Polish forward was as quiet as he was the previous weekend as Barcelona and the game went by him for extended stretches of time.
Real Sociedad kept the Catalans at bay during the first half, creating the majority of the better opportunities, but they were unable to score the game’s first goal.
As the hosts rushed forward in the first thirty seconds, Barcelona’s German goalkeeper, Ter Stegen, was under pressure from Ander Barrenetxea.
After the interval, Real Sociedad was still in first place, but Barcelona found more steadiness, getting more tense at the back, and reducing the amount of room that Barrenetxea and Kubo had previously had.
In an attempt to exert more control, Xavi substituted Lewandowski for the first time since August when Pedri returned from injury in the second half.
In stoppage time, Pedri deftly slipped in Gavi, giving the champions their first real opportunity, but Remiro denied the midfielder.
It appeared as though their chance to steal the points had disappeared, but center-back Araujo showed up at the perfect moment to complete the takeover.
“After the Clasico, which we played well but lost, these are three really important points,” Araujo stated to Movistar.
Real Sociedad drops to sixth place as a result of the loss; Real Betis defeated Mallorca to take the lead.
Real Sociedad forward Mikel Oyarzabal told Movistar, “We were better than them, generally, we didn’t put away our chances and they scored the one they had.”
“If you have to lose, I prefer to lose like this. I think it’s worse to lose without playing well and without showing up.”
Girona summit
With a late comeback to defeat Osasuna and claim pole position earlier, Girona continued their incredible start to the season.
Ivan Martin gave the visitors the lead, but Ante Budimir of Osasuna scored twice to completely change the course of the match.
Girona’s 10th win in 12 league games came late in the game thanks to goals from Aleix Garcia and the Ukrainian duo of Artem Dovbyk and Viktor Tsygankov.
The coach of Girona, Michel, asserted that his team is not up against the big three in Spain, but rather the other teams hoping to secure a spot in the top four.
“We may not be in the same league as Barcelona, Madrid, or Atleti, but we’ll strive to be among those who are catching up,” Michel remarked.
“Yeah, yeah, I dream of that league. I want to be in the La Real (Sociedad), Athletic, Rayo division.”
In other action, Real Betis defeated Real Mallorca 2-0 at home.
Playwright Nabil Fekir from France showed up in place of Betis to mark his comeback from a knee ligament injury that has sidelined him since February.
Sevilla secured a 1-1 draw at Balaidos thanks to a late goal from Youssef En-Nesyri, leaving Rafa Benitez’s Celta Vigo in the relegation zone.
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