Real Sociedad vs Barcelona prediction: SPAIN: LaLiga betting tips on match 2022-08-20 20:00.
Real Sociedad kicked-off their La Liga (LL) campaign with a 1-0 win over Cádiz wherein 21-year-old Takefusa Kubo became the second youngest player to score on his LL debut for the club in the 21st century. Continuing that momentum is by no means assured though against a Barcelona side they have recently struggled against, especially as victory would mark just the second instance across Sociedad’s last 13 LL campaigns where they have started their league season with consecutive wins.
Starting their last home campaign with five straight LL clean sheets (W4, D1) should boost Sociedad’s hopes and another strong defensive showing wouldn’t surprise here, after conceding a league-low nine LL home goals last season. Such a tight defence often led to one strike being enough last season, with ten of Sociedad's last 14 home LL wins or defeats coming via a 1-0 scoreline, including this very fixture last campaign which Sociedad lost.
New-look Barcelona's much anticipated opening game ended in a goalless draw against Rayo Vallecano and a red card for Sergio Busquets, just his second in 452 LL appearances. Not only was that draw the sixth time that Barça started a top-flight campaign with a 0-0 score, but it also extended their goalless run to three LL games for the first time since October 2003, though never have Barça gone four in a row without scoring in top-flight history.
Having not lost a competitive H2H since April 2016, this may well be the perfect fixture for Barcelona to avoid that piece of unwanted history. A league visit to San Sebastián was a banana peel for Barça between 2011 & 2016 (D1, L5) but an unbeaten LL record since then (W4, D2) should inspire confidence, as Xavi’s side look to notch their first LL win of the season.
Players to watch: Sociedad’s Alexander Isak has scored three of his last four LL goals at home, as well as his only career goal against Barcelona. Meanwhile, Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski failed to score in a league opener for the first time since the 2014/15 season but he did score on matchday two back then.
Hot streak: No goals were scored in the opening ten minutes in Sociedad home LL games last season.