Everything keeps coming up in Barcelona’s favor this season as Hansi Flick’s men prepare for a tricky away trip to face Real Sociedad on Sunday. Sitting in 13th place in LaLiga, things haven’t gone according to plan for Sociedad in what was supposed to be a season of improvement but everyone tries to put their best foot forward when the league leaders come to town. Not much has stopped Barcelona lately as Ferran Torres is running with the number nine role, and while he may be off the pace of Kylian Mbappe’s 19 league goals, Torres scoring 11 has been more than enough to keep Barcelona moving forward.
How to watch Real Sociedad vs. Barcelona, odds
- Date: Sunday, Jan. 18 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Reale Arena – San Sebastian, Spain
- Live stream: ESPN+
- Odds: Real Sociedad +425; Draw +375; Barcelona -188
Hansi Flick’s men enter having won 11 straight in all competitions after their Champions League disappointment away to Barcelona back in November, and Joan Garcia’s return to health has improved the defense in a big way. Barcelona have only allowed two goals in their last five matches, keeping shutouts in four. They’ve also doubled down on their faith in the Spanish keeper, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen closing in on joining Girona on loan.
Barcelona’s former number one in net, injuries have held ter Stegen back over the past few seasons, forcing the team to make a long-term decision on the position. That led to signing Garcia from Espanyol ahead of this season, and after his strong start to life at Barcelona, this is now step one closer to ter Stegen figuring out his own future.
In LaLiga, only Aaron Escandell of Oviedo has bettered Garcia’s goals prevented of 5.63 as Garcia has helped make Flick’s high line succeed. Barcelona are going to allow shots with the way that they play, so having someone who is adept at stopping everything that comes their way is critical.
More defensive improvements will be on the way with Joao Cancelo returning to Barcelona. Now that he’s registered for LaLiga play, Cancelo has completed his loan move from Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League. Cancelo last featured for Barcelona in the 2023-24 season, scoring four goals and assisting five more. While he may be a few years older during this spell at the club, Cancelo will still have a large role in a season where Barcelona are balancing Champions League and LaLiga ambitions.
If the defense can continue to do their job while led by Garcia, this is a team that can win the Champions League. Raphinha and Lamine Yamal are doing plenty to pace the attack so this isn’t a team that will be shut out by many teams in the world. That already adds enough pressure to facing Barcelona, and that will only increase if they can continue to rely on their defense.
