La Liga: Barcelona down leaders Real Sociedad 2-1

Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi vies with Real Sociedad's Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino (L) during the Spanish league football match between FC Barcelona and Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona. Pic/AFP

FC Barcelona produced their best 45 minutes football of the season as they came back from a goal down to beat La Liga leaders Real Sociedad 2-1 in their latest encounter.

Real Sociedad had lost their previous 24 league visits to the Camp Nou, but may have thought their luck was about to change when Willian Jose opened the scoring as Portu crossed back into the Barca penalty area following a corner in the 27th minute on Wednesday evening, reports Xinhua news agency.

However, despite taking the lead, the visitors were not playing their best football, and Barca were soon level after Jordi Alba latched onto Antoine Griezmann's deflected pass to drill his shot into the far corner.

Griezmann then saw his shot bounce back off the underside of the bar after robbing Igor Zubeldia and shooting from a tight angle, but Barca didn't have to wait long before taking the lead.

Frenkie de Jong scored the winning goal two minutes before the break, as his first-time finish beat Alex Remiro in the Real Sociedad goal. At first the flag was raised for offside, but the goal was given after a check by VAR.

Things got worse for Real Sociedad shortly after half-time as winger Adnan Januzaj went down holding his hamstring, and it could have been even worse when Griezmann missed a golden opportunity.

Real Sociedad had a chance to equalize six minutes from time, but Marc Andre Ter Stegen pulled off a double stop to deny first Willian Jose and then Alexander Isak.

The win moves Barca in to fifth place in the table, six points behind Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid -- although Atletico have a game in hand -- while the defeat sees the Basque side drop behind Atletico on goal difference.

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