Real Sociedad vs Barcelona Betting Tips & Predictions

Barcelona have largely cruised through this season, sweeping almost everyone before them certainly since early October. However they have finally had a testing week and there have been clear signs of weakness during their home games against the Madrid clubs which will offer up hope to the rest of Europe. They looked jaded and were certainly below par as they slumped to a 2-1 defeat to Real Madrid in el clasico last Saturday. Atletico Madrid also had them rocking at times in the 1st Half of their Champions League Quarter Final 1st Leg. Were it not for Fernando Torres’ sending off Atleti may very well have gone on to get better than the 2-1 defeat they suffered and even that scoreline leaves things pretty finely poised ahead of the 2nd leg.

That game is on Wednesday night and Barcelona will certainly have one eye on it when they step out at the Anoeta on Saturday. With a 6 point lead in La Liga, which is effectively 7 given their superior head-to-head record on both Madrid clubs, they can probably afford a slip-up and Real Sociedad will be hoping they can pounce here. They have a remarkable home record against Barcelona and have beaten them at the Anoeta in each of the last two seasons. They’ve also caused a few upsets this season and only last weekend ended Sevilla’s excellent 17 match winning streak on home soil with a 2-1 win in Andalusia.

Barcelona’s struggles in San Sebastian is one of La Liga’s great mysteries. It is 9 years since they managed to win there and given they’ve been basically the best team in Europe for the majority of that period, it’s a little hard to understand. Real Sociedad are a little inconsistent but on their day look a really good side and with Barca without Tuesday’s hero Luis Suarez and perhaps making a few changes ahead of next week’s 2nd leg with Atleti, you can certainly see potential for La Real to continue their great record against the Catalans and backing Real Sociedad + 1.0 Asian Handicap at 2.050 appeals here.