FC Barcelona are on roll right now. Coach Hansi Flick was quite right when he said there was no cause for alarm after his side crashed to 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in November, promising that things would soon improve. And what an improvement! Since that day, eleven consecutive wins in all competitions have matched their joint second best victorious streak ever.

But Sunday at 9pm CET brings another test and it won't be an easy one. Indeed, last season it was at the home of Real Sociedad that an impressive seven-game winning spell came to an end with a 1-0 defeat, and in 2023 Barça lost at home to the Basques.

Anoeta has not been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Catalans over the years. They have been beaten there seven times this century, and around a decade ago failed to win in San Sebastian seven times in a row. Only at the Santiago Bernabeu have Barça suffered more reverses this century. 

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HIGHLIGHTS | FC Barcelona v Real Sociedad

 

New manager at Real

2025-26 got off to a poor start for Real, and although the results did start to improve, they plunged again in the build-up to Christmas and eventually decided to part company with coach Sergio Francisco. His replacement is Pellegrino Matarazzo, born in the US and of Italian descent, who until now had spent his playing and coaching days in Germany. Indeed, it was while working with the youth teams at Hoffenheim that he coincided with none other than Hansi Flick, who was director of sport at the same club at the time.

Real haven't lost under their new coach, drawing twice and winning away to Getafe last week, while also making their way, like Barça, into Monday's Copa del Rey quarter final draw, having beaten Osasuna on penalties this last Wednesday.

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Barça flying

Barça, who had to work harder than expected to get past second division Racing Santander in their own cup fixture, went into the weekend four points clear at the top of the league table. That gap has been reduced, hopefully only momentarily, to one after Real Madrid saw off Levante 2-0 on Saturday under new manager Álvaro Arbeloa.

The moment this game is over, thoughts will immediately switch to the first European fixture this year, where nothing but a win at Slavia Prague would keep the team on realistic course for a top eight finish.

Team news 

With players of the calbire of Oyarzabal, Guedes, Brais Méndez and Kubo among their ranks, it's surprising that Real have only mustered 11 points at Anoeta this term, one of the poorest home records in the championship.

Japanese midfielder Kubo is one of two players in the home squad with a Barça past, the other being Sergio Gómez. The Basques will be without the injured Iñaki Ruperez on Sunday, while there are question marks regarding the fitness of Yangel Herrera and Orri Oskarss.

At Barça meanwhile, in addition to the absences of the injured Andreas Christensen and Gavi, Barça's in-form forward Raphinha has taken a knock this week and may sit this one out.

Flick was unable to confirm things one way or another regarding the Brazilian, while also commenting in his pre-game conference that "if we want to win the league, we have to beat Real Sociedad. It will be a tough match because Real Sociedad have some fantastic players. And they’re in good form after their recent results. They’ve grown in confidence since Matarazzo arrived.” 

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