Zero at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in the duel between Real Madrid and Sociedad made Barcelona the happiest, and the Catalans now have five points more at the top of the Spanish championship table. The tenacious Sociedad played another tough game and annoyed Real fans, just like they did a few days ago in the cup duel with Barca. Tonight, they endured Real’s ‘hell’ and all the attacks of Karim Benzema, Dani Ceballos and Vinicius accompanied by Toni Kroos, after which Xavi Hernandez and the fellas in Catalonia are more than happy.Barça fans watching Real Madrid drop points at home as they take a five-point lead in La Liga: pic.twitter.com/nb1CyUkieO— B/R Football (@brfootball) January 29, 2023 Again, just like many times this season, one of the key roles when Sociedad scored a good result was played by goalkeeper Remiro! While Real’s attacks continued, Remiro stopped the unconcentrated Vinicius three times in one-on-one situations. Real Madrid showed more in this game, although Sociedad also had one excellent chance through former Blancos winger Takefus Kuba, when Thibaut Courtois prevented a shock with his last efforts. The Japanese almost left a message to his former club in his return to the Santiago Bernabeu. Despite everything, a draw is perhaps the fairest.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Sociedad showed that it had perfected its game from the previous two seasons, that they are more united than ever before, and they played exactly as Imanol Alguasil probably wanted – hard in defence, without too much going forward, but when it did occur, something would happen in front of the Courtois penalty area. A good chance was missed by Alexander Serlot already in the 6th minute when Munoz tore Real’s defence and sent a usable ball, but the fired-up Norwegian did not have enough composure to resolve the situation in favour of the visitors.21 – Vinicius Júnior 🇧🇷 has attempted 21 dribbles against Real Sociedad (9 completed), the highest record in a @LaLigaEN match by any player since at least 2005/06 season.Electric. pic.twitter.com/RhQswTV8MJ— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 29, 2023 The player who will regret this draw the most is Vinicius. The Brazilian has shown two faces numerous times so far. At times very selfish, then angry with himself because he could not solve any of the many situations that “appeared” for him on the field. It was evident that he was not satisfied with his game and performance. Benzema also played in spurts. It’s been 105 days since he last rattled the net in front of his home crowd, which is now beginning to seriously affect Real’s results.Barca open up a six-point lead after a Pedri-inspired maximum in the neighbourhoodInterestingly, Karlo Ancelotti decided that Luka Modrić would start the game from the bench after 120 minutes in the Cup. He entered towards the end and did not change much, although his minutes were used by Dani Ceballos to confirm a significant rise in form and that he could be very useful for Ancelotti during the season. He plays now with much more self-confidence, which is immediately noticeable, and in partnership with Kroos and Valverde, he ploughed through the middle of the field. Just as Remiro was the antidote to Real’s attack, Courtois was to Real Sociedad. The Belgian also had a remarkable evening and saved at least one point for the home team.LA LIGA – ROUND 19FridayAlmeria – Espanyol 3-1 (1-0)/Suarez 21, Baptistao 61, Portillo 77 – Joselu 90+3/SaturdayCadiz – Mallorca 2-0 (2-0)/Bongonda 10, Fernanddez 38 pen/Girona – Barcelona 0-1 (0-0)/Pedri 61/Sevilla – Elche 3-0 (3-0)/En Nesyri 29, 45+3, Acuna 43/Getafe – Betis 0-1 (0-0)/Iglesias 86/SundayValladolid – Valencia 1-0 (0-0)/Larin 90/Osasuna – Atl.Madrid 0-1 (0-0)/Saul 74/Celta – Ath.Bilbao 1-0 (0-0)/Aspas 71/Real Madrid – Sociedad 0-0Monday23:00: (1.73) Villareal (3.60) Rayo Vallecano (5.10)***odds are subject to change***
