Copa del Rey: Real Sociedad 1-1 FC Barcelona: Player Ratings

Pinto had a good game in net for Barcelona, showing rarely seen confidence on the ball. He often found himself under pressure by Sociedad forwards, but he calmly distributed the ball to his teammates. He also didn't panic on a couple occasions when the ball bounced away from him.  Pinto looked calm and collected in goal the entire game, making a good save on Carlos Vela in the first half, but had absolutely no chance of stopping Atoine Griezmann's thunderous drive late in the game.

The game didn't start on a good note for Alves as he was lucky that the linesman signaled for offside even though Haris Seferovic was about a yard onside courtesy of Dani. But it got better for Alves who picked it up offensively as well as defensively, where he led the team in tackles. In attack he had one of his better games in recent memory as he showed good dribbling skills and combined excellently with his teammates.

Pique had a quiet, but solid game which was a nice surprise considering his last two league appearances. He kept his play simple which was in my opinion crucial in his good performance. He didn't try to do too much, just enough to get the ball out of danger and into the feet of a Barcelona player. Though his positioning was still a bit off on a couple occasions, one of which led to a great chance by Vela.

Returning from a one-game suspension Mascherano proved that some were too quick to dismiss him. He played a physical game, most felt by Vela and Griezmann both of whom struggled with the Argentine in coverage. Just after the one hour mark Mascherano showed why he's so valuable to the team, both times dispossessing Griezmann. The first play was especially brilliant as El Jefecito ran down the Frenchman and with a diving tackle prevented a shot on goal. And his long range passing was absolutely sublime.

Like Pique, Alba too had a quiet game. He provided good support in attack, but he didn't have as much offensive impact as we've become used to from him. On defense he was very solid, leading the team by a large in interceptions with nine. Alba also made a couple of clearances, but other than that Alba really wasn't seen that much on the pitch.

Aside from being on the receiving end of a painful foul from Carlos Vela, Busquets has a relatively easy night in the gap between attack and defence. When possible, Busquets would push forward and become part of the attacking midfielders, often in line with Xavi as Fàbregas and Iniesta pushed forward. One negative of his game was slightly cynical late challenge of Griezmann that resulted in a yellow card. Could’ve possibly done more to prevent the Sociedad goal but he elected to backup Jordi Alba which left room for Griezmann.

A very calm and collected performance from Xavi tonight. With players like Xavi, Iniesta and Fàbregas on the field it was unlikely Sociedad were going to really challenge for possession and this was personified through Xavi. 132 passes with a 95% success rate show just how much Xavi was at the heart of the midfield. Xavi showed a good attacking side to his game and had it not been for an outstretched leg of a Sociedad defender, Xavi would’ve probably scored Barcelona’s second. Overall a very good night for the vice-captain.

While we have come to expect Cesc making some dangerous passes, last night was different. He ran at the Sociedad defense more often (and successfully), looked to create danger with runs into the box and believe it or not, change of pace! Cesc kept swapping with Iniesta in midfield and seemed comfortable doing so. Fabregas is definitely having a great season and something tells me that unlike previous years, we won't see a big drop in quality during the second half of the campaign.

The canary Islander was his usual uber hard working himself. This role can be even more important, when Tata chooses to play more midfielders like he did yesterday. Pedro is more than capable of dominating a flank. Yet, as an attacker we expect better finishing but last night, he simply didn't take enough shots.

The significance of having him back in the squad can not be understated. Even more so when he is in this sort of form. Messi was constantly trying to drive the team forward and it's great to see him do that again. The Argentine scored a great goal (with a touch of luck) and is my choice for MOTM.

Iniesta showed one of his best traits in the game and that was his ability to be seemingly everywhere. When the ball was being knocked around the midfield he was there, when Messi was charging towards the box looking for an option he was there and when a defender needed a route out he was there. Swapping positions with Cesc Fàbregas brilliantly, Iniesta was patrolling the left wing area and knew when to cut in and when to cut wide. His passing was typically excellent as he also got his fair share of shots away. No goals but if he continues like this, I expect to see Iniesta’s name on the scoreboard sometime soon.

Song replaced Barcelona captain Xavi Hernández after the hour mark, and struggled to immediately  settle into the midfield even though the tempo of the match was pedestrian at best. After misreading a few passes from his colleagues, Song eventually settled into the match and made a   couple of solid interventions, before arguably making a mistake for the equaliser as he failed to track   back and assist his defense.

Relative to the rest of the season, this was a slightly above average performance from the Blaugrana in the sense that they played good football over the course of the 90 minutes, but didn’t emphasize their superiority as they might have on another night – as reflected by the final result. However, given the context of this match and the schedule surrounding it, I was delighted with this display. Admittedly, we couldn’t grab the win, but I was both entertained and encouraged by what I saw from the team – especially knowing that they never really pushed themselves out of second gear.

Time will tell whether this selection was a good decision from Martino; certainly I remember how similar selections caused many Culés to retrospectively criticise Tito Vilanova at the end of last season anyway. At face value though, this was a strong match tactically and Tata will have surely learnt some valuable lessons ahead of the clash with Manchester City.

Messi ran away with the MOTM voting, winning the award by a large margin with Iniesta finishing a distant second with only 9% of the votes.