Barcelona coach Ronald Koeman praised his team’s constant pressure after their 2-1 victory over Real Sociedad on Wednesday, when the Catalans finally came back to life after a poor start to the season.
Barcelona Ratings: Alba and De Jong shine in victory
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Real Sociedad started tonight as the La Liga leaders and took the lead Willian Jose But Barcelona quickly overcame an early setback thanks to strikes from Jordi Alba And the Frenkie de Young Before the break.
“The first half was great, we should have scored more goals. We were very strong, we put them under great pressure and we ran ourselves to the ground,” Koeman told a news conference.
“Real Sociedad is excellent at handling the ball but we kept looting it at them. We pressed them well. It was an open game because our opponents know how to play very well but the match belongs to us and it was a deserved victory.”
Lionel Messi He took time off, squandered lots of opportunity and missed several key passes, but Koeman said he was happy with his captain’s work rate.
“This is the team I want to see. Every player plays outside his skin. The biggest difference was that we played without the ball today, and Messi worked hard in that regard, pressed a lot, and so did the others,” he said.
“That was the position we had to take when we had no ball.”
Real Sociedad had gone through nine matches unbeaten in the league when they reached Camp Nou but they had struggled to adapt to Barcelona, and coach Emanol Guacil praised the Catalans for their efforts.
He said: “We have seen the best Barcelona we’ve seen in a long time, especially the defensive.”
“It pays tribute to them very much and the respect they had for this match. We haven’t seen Barcelona so aggressive for a long time. Even Messi was diving to the ground to gain interference.”
