Real Sociedad vs Barcelona: The Streak Ends at Anoeta (2026)
All winning streaks eventually find the ground where they die. Barcelona's eleven-match run chose a rainy Sunday in San Sebastián — January 18, 2026 — and the Basque Country buried it politely: Real Sociedad 2, Barcelona 1.
How the streak died
Referee Gil Manzano and the VAR screen did most of Barcelona's scoring against them: Fermín López's fifth-minute goal disallowed, then Lewandowski at 29', Yamal at 44', De Jong at 52' — four chalked off, plus a Yamal penalty overturned for a marginal offside in the build-up. Add five strikes against post and crossbar, and the only goals that counted were Mikel Oyarzabal's 32nd-minute volley from a Takefusa Kubo cross, Marcus Rashford's 70th-minute equalizer — his first La Liga goal, a low finish after cutting inside — and Gonçalo Guedes stabbing home the winner sixty seconds later at the far post.
Why the streak died
Pellegrino Matarazzo made the brave call: he did not sit deep. His midfielders, Turrientes and Soler, man-marked Pedri and Marc Casadó, choking the supply line Barcelona breathes through. Add Raphinha's late withdrawal with a knock — his tracking is the quiet oil in Hansi Flick's machine — and Alejandro Balde was left alone against Kubo and Aramburu all evening. By the 80th minute Barcelona players were checking the linesman before celebrating. That half-second of doubt is fatal at this level.
The table after the storm
Barcelona stay top on 49 points, but the lead over Real Madrid is one point, with Villarreal and Atlético both on 41 and circling. There is no time to mourn: a Champions League trip to Slavia Prague waits on Wednesday, and a hangover there could cost a season.
For La Real, the win validates everything Matarazzo is building and pushes them toward Europe. Enjoy the mithai, San Sebastián — your side played with a lion's heart.
Our elders said it best: girte hain shahsawar hi maidan-e-jung mein — it is the great riders who fall in the battlefield. How Barcelona respond in Prague will tell us what this team is actually made of.
An eleven-match streak took fifty days of near-perfect football. Palestinian endurance has outlasted generations of far worse, and it humbles any scoreboard I know.
If you want your own version of the pilgrimage — Anoeta away, the Camp Nou, wherever the obsession points — we build Schengen files around fixture lists at HTG Travels, with dates, hotels and flights that actually match the matches.
