FC Barcelona News: 10 April 2016: Barça Lose At Anoeta, Rakitic Reaches Milestone

Barça had not won at Real Sociedad since 2007, and on Saturday night that negative run continued as they crashed to 1-0 defeat at Anoeta.  And after Atlético Madrid won at Espanyol earlier on in the day, the result means that the difference between the top two has been slashed to three points with six games to go.

After Barça lost 1-0 at Anoeta to a Real Sociedad side that scored with its only shot on target, first team manager Luis Enrique faced the press by saying that "you need to have more possession against a team that defends like they do." The Asturian went on to confess that "we were poor in the first half. We lacked control and order, and we wanted to sort the game out more with our hearts than with our heads."

The game against Real Sociedad marked Ivan Rakitic’s 100th official appearance for FC Barcelona, a figure that he has reached in less than two seasons since joining the club from Sevilla in the summer of 2014. Now an essential part of Luis Enrique’s plans, the Swiss-born Croat’s official debut came when he played all 90 minutes of a 3-0 win over Elche. Five games later, he scored the first goal for his new club in a 6-0 rout of Granada, and he’d go on to score a total of four goals in his first 25 games.

Stop us if you've heard this one before but Gerard Pique and Alvaro Arbeloa don't like each other very much. They may play for two rivals, Barcelona and Real Madrid, but their animosity runs deeper and goes back to 2013 at least after Real Madrid had beaten Elche with a 94th-minute penalty. Pique then referred to Arbeloa as "a cone" in December, while drew a fiery response from Arbeloa in March. And now they are at it again.

As we approach another transfer window, there will need to be regeneration in the Barcelona side once again if they wish to remain competitive and Chelsea are another club that will be looking for new blood to satisfy their new manager Antonio Conte. What Turan does have in his armoury is that undeniable competitive spirit that Chelsea have based their successes upon over the last few seasons, but indeed what they have lacked for the most part of the current campaign.

Real Sociedad midfielder Esteban Granero claims he promised former team-mate Alvaro Arbeloa that they would beat Barcelona. A solitary goal after just five minutes from Mikel Oyarzabal was enough for the home side to take all three points at Anoeta on Saturday and blow La Liga's title race wide open with six games to play.

Barça B suffered 3-1 defeat at home to Sabadell on Saturday in a game on which a large part of their play-off hopes hung. The loss came despite the Blaugrana dominating the first 45 minutes and leading 1-0 at the break thanks to Rafa Mujica, who combined brilliantly with Samper just before the break to produce his first ever goal for the Barça reserves. It was no less than Barça B deserved following the number of chances they had created thus far in the game.