Real Sociedad vs Barcelona, La Liga: Preview

Real Sociedad de Fútbol (12th, 21pts) vs FC Barcelona (1st, 49pts)*

*Standings at the time of writing

Competition/Round: 2025-26 La Liga, Matchday 20

Barcelona Outs & Doubts: Gavi, Andreas Christensen (out), Raphinha (doubt)

Real Sociedad Outs & Doubts: Orri Oskarsson, Yangel Herrera (doubt)

Date/Time: Sunday, January 18, 2026, 9pm CET/WAT (Barcelona & Nigeria), 8pm GMT (UK), 3pm ET, 12pm PT (USA), 1.30am IST (India, Monday)

Venue: Anoeta, San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain

Referee: Jesús Gil Manzano

VAR: Carlos Del Cerro Grande

How to watch on TV: ESPN Deportes (USA), Premier Sports 2 (UK), SuperSport (Nigeria), others

How to watch online: ESPN+ (USA), Premier Sports Player (UK), FanCode (India), DAZN (Spain), others

Following a hard-fought win over Racing Santander to advance to the Copa del Rey quarter-finals in midweek, Barcelona return to La Liga action as the leaders travel to the Basque Country for a huge away test against Real Sociedad at Anoeta on Sunday Night Fútbol.

Barça come into this one looking to restore a four-point lead at the top of the table after Real Madrid’s win on Saturday, and a 10th consecutive victory in the league would be a new record under Hansi Flick while a 12th straight win in all competitions would get Barça one step closer to the all-time record of 18 established two decades ago.

Flick promised a different Barcelona after the loss at Stamford Bridge and he has delivered on that promise, with a team that is better with and without the ball and looks a lot closer to the version that delighted fans all around the world last season. But one defeat will be enough to bring back all the questions from the professional overreactors, and a defeat cannot be ruled out when facing Real Sociedad at Anoeta.

The Catalans famously went a whole decade without winning in San Sebastián before breaking the Anoeta Curse back in 2017, and they went almost a decade without losing until they suffered a 1-0 defeat last season in a game that featured a very poor performance from Barça and a hilarious VAR decision that literally removed Robert Lewandowski’s foot from his body and put it somewhere else to make sure the goal would be disallowed for offside.

The two teams have faced off more recently since then, with Barça needing to come from behind to win 2-1 at Montjuïc when Sociedad were threatened by relegation but still fought really hard and gave the Blaugrana all they could handle. La Real have changed coaches since then, with Pellegrino Matarazzo taking over at the start of January and coaching the team in three games, with one draw and one win in the league and a win on penalties in the Cup in midweek.

Matarazzo has implemented a few stylisitc changes compared to his predecessor, and Sociedad went from a team that tried to keep possession but struggled a lot to create chances with the ball to a more direct and transition-focused side that doesn’t need the ball that much and can be a lot more dangerous by using the pace of their talented wingers in Take Kubo, Gonçalo Guedes and club legend Mikel Oyarzabal.

Hansi Flick has previous experience of facing Matarazzo in the Bundesliga, with Flick’s Bayern winning 3-1 and 4-0 in two games against Matarazzo’s Stuttgart in the 2020-21 season. Matarazzo says he’s learned a lot from those two games in his pre-match press conference ahead of this one, and suggested he has spent quite a bit of time coming up with a plan to contain the mighty Barça.

Beyond the tactical plan, though, Sociedad will rely on their crowd, which is by far one of the very best in Spain and is especially fired up every time Barça come to town. The crowd tends to play a part and their energy almost forces La Real to come out of their shell and go all-out in the attack in the early minutes, which is why Barça must be prepared to weather the storm from a team that will play fast-paced, intense, almost German-style Gegenpressing stuff trying to shock the Catalans early on.

This will most likely be a transition game that should suit the likes of Lamine Yamal and Fermín López, but the fact Raphinha might miss out due to a knock suffered against Racing could prove costly for a Barça side that would benefit greatly from the Brazilian’s electric pace and scoring ability on counter-attacks.

Barça haven’t played a home game in five weeks, and their resilience and resolve is being tested with every new road trip. This will be by far the toughest away test yet, and a win would continue to prove why this Barça team is getting stronger and stronger at the right time.

Let’s dance.

POSSIBLE LINEUPS

Barcelona (4-2-3-1): Joan; Kounde, Cubarsí, Eric, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín, Rashford; Ferran

Real Sociedad (4-4-2): Remiro; Aramburu, Martín, Caleta-Car, Gómez; Kubo, Turrientes, Soler, Guedes; Méndez, Oyarzabal

PREDICTION

Sociedad are a bit of an enigma given the recent change in coaching and playing style and will certainly feed off the energy from the crowd to make the game really tough for Barça, but I expect Flick’s troops to handle the pressure and escape Anoeta with all three points: 3-1 to the visitors.