Barcelona returned to the top of the LaLiga table. They wrested back control of the title race. They secured a comfortable 4-0 home victory over 10-man Real Sociedad on Sunday.
Barcelona secured their sixth straight league win. This victory moved them into first place with 57 points from 26 games. They are now one point ahead of Atletico Madrid.Â
Sociedad attempted to catch Barca off guard straight after the whistle. They thought they had taken the lead through Sergio Gomez’s deflected strike. However, the VAR disallowed the third-minute goal for offside.
The visitors’ early momentum fell apart. They went down to 10 men when defender Aritz Elustondo bundled over Barcelona’s Dani Olmo in the 17th minute. He was shown a red card as the last man.
Hansi Flick’s side opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a fine team effort. It started with Lamine Yamal dribbling past two players. He then squared for Olmo. Olmo’s chipped pass was volleyed home by Gerard Martin. This was Martin’s first professional goal.
Three minutes later, Marc Casado matched the achievement when Olmo’s long-range shot deflected off of him and into the net.
Barcelona kept up the pressure after the interval. They created chance after chance. They added a third goal in the 56th minute. A rebound from goalkeeper Alex Remiro’s save was headed in by Araujo.
Barcelona continued to look dangerous despite the changes. They scored a fourth goal when striker Robert Lewandowski smartly redirected an effort from Araujo. This netted his 21st league goal of the season and wrapped up the victory.