Barcelona completely blew a golden chance to stretch their lead at the top of La Liga, going down 2–1 away to Real Sociedad on Sunday night, and the refs were involved in everything.
It started almost immediately. Sociedad thought they were ahead inside the first minute when Oyarzabal scored… nope, offside. Then Barça had one ruled out at the other end after VAR spotted a foul in the buildup. From there it just got worse. Fermín López, Frenkie de Jong, and Lamine Yamal all had goals disallowed, most of them for tight offsides. Every time the ball hit the net, everyone just waited for VAR.
Eventually though, Sociedad finally got one that counted. Gonçalo Guedes whipped in a great cross to the back post and Oyarzabal absolutely smashed in a volley. No flag, no VAR drama. Goal stands, 1–0 La Real.
Right before halftime, Barça thought they’d been thrown a lifeline when the ref pointed to the spot in stoppage time, but VAR stepped in again. Yamal was offside, penalty gone, players furious.
The second half was basically a Barça siege. Olmo and Lewandowski hit the woodwork, Remiro was pulling off save after save, and it felt like one of those nights where the ball just would not go in. Then finally, a breakthrough. Marcus Rashford, off the bench, heads in an equaliser and it looks like Barça might escape with something.
But Sociedad were not having it. Almost straight from kickoff, they worked it down the left, Joan Garcia spilled a header, and Carlos Soler teed up Guedes, who smashed a half volley home. 2–1, momentum swung again.
As if that was not enough drama, Soler then got sent off late on after a VAR check. Straight red with two minutes left. Despite being down to ten men and clearly exhausted, Sociedad somehow held on through nine minutes of stoppage time.
Final tally was 2–1 to Sociedad. There were 12 yellow cards, one red card, goals ruled out everywhere, and VAR involved nonstop.
One of those matches people will still be arguing about days later. Barça will feel robbed, Sociedad will say they earned it, and the refereeing will dominate the headlines. Classic La Liga chaos.
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