Barcelona cruised to victory with a 4-0 triumph against Real Sociedad to move to the top of the La Liga table.
The visitors gave the hosts a scare when Sergio Gomez put the ball past Wojciech Szczesny to seemingly give Sociedad an early lead, before the goal was ruled out for offside.
The game turned in Barcelona’s favour in the 17th minute, as Aritz Elustondo was sent off for a foul on Dani Olmo, and within 12 minutes, the hosts had all but sealed the win, with goals from unlikely sources in Gerard Martin and Marc Casado.
The hosts made absolutely sure of the victory in the second half, as Ronald Araujo nodded in from close range to make it 3-0, before Robert Lewandowski completed the scoring a few minutes later.
This was as dominant a win as Barcelona could have wished for heading into today, as they made Sociedad pay for their early red card.
Apart from the very early scare with the disallowed goal, the visitors offered very little, which is understandable in the circumstances, and it was essentially a training session as soon as Barca had a two-goal lead.
Now that Barcelona have the advantage in the title race, it is down to them to ensure that they hold onto it in the closing months of the campaign.
The visitors will look to put this game behind them as soon as possible, as they switch their focus to their Europa League campaign again on Thursday.
