Barcelona edge Real Sociedad 2-0 to pull five clear of Real Madrid
Barcelona moved within touching distance of a fifth La Liga title in seven years and piled pressure on chasing Real Madrid when Pedro scored a late stunner to seal a 2-0 win at home to Real Sociedad on Saturday.
The leaders’ victory over the mid-table Basque club at the Nou Camp stretched treble-chasing Barca’s lead over second-placed Real to five points ahead of the Madrid club’s game at home to Valencia later on Saturday.
Barca have 90 points with two games left, including a trip to champions Atletico Madrid next weekend, with Real on 85, nine ahead of third-placed Atletico, who play at Levante on Sunday. Valencia are a further four points adrift in fourth.
Sociedad’s Argentine goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli was on sparkling form and conjured up a series of superb saves to deny Barca’s attacking trident of Neymar, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez before the former finally found the net after 51 minutes.
Sociedad defender Mikel Gonzalez attempted a clearance but the ball fell kindly for the Brazil forward and he nodded home to settle the home fans’ jangling nerves.
Neymar, who netted Barca’s third goal in Wednesday’s 3-0 Champions League semi-final, first leg win over Bayern Munich, has scored in his last six appearances in all competitions, equaling his best run since joining from Santos in 2013.
Pedro’s playing time has been limited this season but he scored one of the goals of the season four minutes from time shortly after replacing Rafinha.
The ball looped up in the penalty area and the Spain international sent it arrowing into the roof of the net with an acrobatic overhead kick.
It was a club-record seventh straight match Barca have prevented their opponents from scoring, during which they have rattled in 25 goals.
“It was predictable that we would drop our rhythm (after the Bayern victory) but we wanted to win at all costs,” Neymar told Spanish television.
“Sociedad are a great team and we knew it would be tough,” he added.
LOOMING STRIKE
Barca play their Champions League return leg at Bayern on Tuesday and will seek a record-extending 27th King’s Cup crown against Athletic Bilbao in the final at the end of the month.
Saturday’s matches are being played under the cloud of a looming strike orchestrated by the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) and the players’ union (AFE) due to a dispute over a new law on collective bargaining for the sale of television rights.
The two organisations, who complain the law does not take their interests sufficiently into account, have threatened to halt games from May 16, meaning the final two La Liga matchdays and the Cup final are under threat.
Granada kept alive their hopes of avoiding the drop when they won 2-0 at home to already-relegated Andalusian rivals Cordoba, who had a player sent off in each half and are 10 points adrift at the bottom.
