Hello and welcome along to this live blog, where we’ll be covering this Sunday night’s LaLiga Santander fixture between Real Sociedad and Barcelona. Ronald Koeman‘s side fell to third after Real Madrid‘s win on Saturday and will be looking to take three points before the international break. We’ll have all the build-up to the match at the Reale Arena and will post the line-ups as soon as they come out. Then, once this match kicks off at 21:00 CET, we’ll have minute-by-minute updates for the game itself. All of this live blog’s updates will come underneath the below image, with our most recent entries towards the top.
Real Sociedad vs Barcelona LIVE
19:30 CET: Griezmann’s birthday return to San Sebastian
For Antoine Griezmann, it’s always special to return to San Sebastian to face Real Sociedad. He grew up in the Basque club’s academy and he is returning on the day of his 30th birthday. Real Sociedad posted a tweet wishing the Frenchman a happy birthday.
19:15 CET: An unchanged squad for Barcelona
Barcelona‘s squad for this Sunday night’s game is the exact same as the one for their most recent match, their Monday night victory over Huesca. They are still without the injured Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto, Philippe Coutinho and Ansu Fati, but everyone else is available. More details here.
18:55 CET: The ‘Anoeta curse’
Over the years, Barcelona hated this fixture. Between 2007 and 2017, they didn’t win any of their visits to Anoeta, now called the Reale Arena for commercial reasons. Barcelona lost five and drew three of their eight visits to face Real Sociedad during that period. However, the ‘Anoeta curse’ seems to have been broken. Of their last four visits, Barcelona have won three and drawn one.
18:40 CET: Koeman’s thoughts
Ronald Koeman previewed this fixture on Saturday, discussing Real Sociedad‘s strengths and bringing up the fact that these two teams have already faced off twice this season – with Barcelona winning 2-1 in the first meeting this LaLiga Santander season and then progressing on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the Supercopa de Espana semi-final. “They’re a strong team and one of the best ones in the league,” Koeman said. “They play good football and press well up front.”
18:30 CET: The global kick off times
This is the final match of LaLiga’s Matchday 28, kicking off at 21:00 CET on the Spanish mainland. In the UK, that’s 20:00 GMT. In the USA, that’s 16:00 ET. The global kick off times for several other cities around the world can be seen in the below graphic produced by Barcelona.
