Full-time thoughts:
Narrator’s voice: I have ripped up my ‘the best 0-0 draw of the season’ piece to write this off the cuff:
The faces of the blue and white shirts at full time say it all: the performance that Real Sociedad put in against Barcelona only had one outcome – or so we thought.
La Real dominated every aspect of the game against their Catalan rivals, and somehow the away side escaped with three points after a late, late, header from Araujo.
Imanol Alguacil’s side put in what looked like the best team performance of the season but it was not to be. “If there is a way to lose, then I prefer it to be like this”, said Oyarzabal at full-time, his face was as you would imagine it to be, with his bottom lip almost touching the floor.
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen rightfully got the MVP award after saving a number of chances for the home side who pressed and pushed and delighted with twisting, uncontrollable movements that caused the stripes on Barcelona’s shirts to fire off in all directions.
Xavi threw the dice over and over again, changing players and tweaking the system in repeated attempts to neutralise the onslaught, but nothing worked.
Eventually, when the pressure stopped, with a few minutes to go and Real Sociedad couldn’t run any more, Gundogan’s lofted ball met Araujo who was just onside and his close-range header agonisingly crossed the line to give the defending champions a win that keeps them in the race for the top.