Real Sociedad has been playing great football lately, they had nine consecutive victories in the championship and the cup, but tonight at Camp Nou they were grounded by the home team.Barcelona defeated the guests from the Basque Country 1-0 in a more difficult manner than expected and qualified for the semi-finals of Copa del Rey. The man who decided the winner was Ousmane Dembele, but it must be pointed out that the job was made easier for the Catalans by visiting midfielder Brais Mendez, who was justifiably sent off in the 40th minute.Although this has been a rather stressful and strange season for Barcelona from the start due to various off-field developments – mainly institutional and financial problems – it could end up with a ‘double’ in the end. Barca are La Liga leaders, and now they are the first to secure a place in the semi-finals of the national cup. This was not really expected this summer when the club was going through crisis moments due to all kinds of bans and sanctions caused by bad business in previous years. But it is obvious that a good transition period has been done and that coach Xavi is slowly putting everything in place.FULL TIME! #BarçaRealSociedad pic.twitter.com/mi3ouxHKqa— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) January 25, 2023 Tonight, Xavi sent by far the strongest team he had at his disposal on the field, which didn’t often happen this season… Pedri played more offensively in support of Dembele and Lewandowski, and behind them were Busquets, De Jong and Gavi. On the other hand, Imanolo was missing important players like Merino and David Silva.Barca immediately attacked and Dembele was in a good mood, to say the least. In the first half hour, he missed a good chance, created two excellent ones for De Jong and Lewandowski, and then Kubo hit the crossbar on the other side. The key detail of the match followed. Aggressive Brais Mendez was first forgiven a yellow card for a foul on Lewandowski, but in the 39th minute he tackled Busquets even harder. The referee first showed him a yellow card, but after VAR consultation, he changed the decision to an exclusion.The guests lasted until halftime, but capitulated very quickly at the beginning of the second part of the game. The fast-footed Dembele ran away from Real Sociedad’s defense, everyone expected him to send a cross toward Lewandowski, but he took a powerful shot from a tight angle and sent the ball behind Remiro, who caught the ball with his wrist but failed to deflect it.Dembele put one on for Barca against Real SociedadDembele🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/mRBZiU1MtU— FCBarcelona Latest (@FCBarcaLatest) January 25, 2023 Even with one less player, the visiting team soon had a chance to get back into the match, but Sorloth missed a promising shot. The opportunity to settle everything was missed by Gavi, who hit the crossbar after a pass from a spirited Dembele and almost cost the Catalans. In the 87th minute, Imanolo’s team countered, Navarro went out alone at Ter Stegen, but the German made a great save and saved Barca’s lead.COPA DEL REYQuarter-finalsWednesdayBarcelona – Sociedad 1-0 (0-0)/Dembele 52/23.55: (2.45) Osasuna (3.05) Sevilla (3.15)Thursday22.00: (2.80) Valencia (3.05) Ath.Bilbao (2.70)23.00: (1.92) Real Madrid (3.50) Atl.Madrid (4.10)***odds are subject to change
