Barcelona put a difficult few days behind them with a bounce-back win over Real Sociedad away from home.
The win moved Barcelona back into second place in La Liga ahead of Sevilla.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored the game’s only goal after just 11 minutes before the hosts came alive and Barcelona had to withstand heavy pressure from the home side, especially in the second half.
The win snapped a run of back-to-back losses for Barcelona that saw them eliminated from the Europa League ending their chance for a European silverware before losing to Cadiz which effectively ended their chances of catching Real Madrid at the top of LaLiga.
In the quest to finish runners-up to Madrid, Barca are level on points with third-placed Sevilla and two points clear of fourth-placed Atletico Madrid, while having a game in hand on both.
The victory also gave Barcelona some breathing room as they look to secure a top-four spot and a place in next season’s Champions League that will help ease some financial constraints.
Aubameyang gave Barca the perfect start when he headed in from close range following Ferran Torres’ lobbed ball across the six-yard box.
The goal was Aubameyang’s ninth in La Liga for Barcelona since joining from Arsenal in January also making him Barcelona’s joint top scorer this season.
But the visitors were made to work for all three points as Sociedad missed a series of clear-cut chances on either side of half-time to draw them level on the scoresheet.
Alexander Isak and Alexander Sorloth both failed to make clean contact with the goal gaping and just the keeper to beat before Marc-Andre ter Stegen denied Sorloth with a fine save with his legs from similarly close range.
Barcelona, however, will be worried about the string of injuries their already feeble backline suffered in the game.
All four members of Xavi’s starting backline required treatment during the game and Ronald Araujo, Dani Alves, and Gerard Pique were all taken off injured.
