Barça runs into its black beast again (with controversy)

Barcelona350 days later, Barça returned to Zubieta, the scene of the team's last defeat in an official match. On that November 2, 2025, Pere Romeu's team fell 1-0 to Real Sociedad. Almost a year later, the Basque side became their nemesis once again. Pere Romeu's players, who went into the international break with the best possible feelings, lost 2-1 with refereeing controversy included.

And that was despite the match starting in the best possible way for Barça. Rosalía, one of the surprises in the starting eleven, combined with Esmee Brugts to put a cross into the box that the local defense cleared to the edge, where Patri Guijarro appeared to make it 0-1. Only 55 seconds had passed and everything pointed to it being a quiet match for the Catalans, who also dominated the game, both with and without the ball.

But football never has a predictable script and Real Sociedad managed to tie the match with a counterattack initiated by Ainhoa Marín, a footballer who caused a lot of damage to the 'blaugranes', and Nerea Eizagirre. Cecilia Marcos, with an unstoppable shot, completed it perfectly. Martina Fernández was once again caught out of position, easily beaten by her rival.

An action that changed the game completely. Barça, who until then were the clear dominators, began to lose control and the Basques took advantage of it to pull off a surprise. Ainhoa Marín had the 2-1 after another deep pass in which she got behind Van Asten, who despite that played a good game in defense.

They did not achieve it at the first attempt, but they did at the second. Just before halftime, Eizagirre combined again with Marín, who beat the Dutch center-back before dribbling past Cata Coll to score the second goal for the hosts with ease. Real Sociedad managed to turn the game around and, for the first time all season, Barça ended the first half behind on the scoreboard.

Just as it happened last season, the blue and reds were unable to break down the defensive wall set up by the Basques, who despite not having started the League well—until this Sunday they had only won one match out of the six played—already posed many difficulties for Madrid and have now managed to defeat the reigning European champions.

Romeu played all his cards and brought on Kerolin, Kika, Sydney, and Graham—in addition to Aïcha—and Barça had the chance to tie the duel. Esmee Brugts fell inside the box after a tackle by Esther Laborde—very solid in defense during the 90 minutes—. The referee, who indicated a penalty live, overturned the decision after reviewing it on the screen, in the face of protests from Romeu, who was very indignant as he considered it a punishable action. Pajor also had the equalizer with a final lob that went just wide.

Barça loses its first match of the season, but continues as the sole leader of the Liga F with a two-point margin over Madrid. The Catalan team will now have a week without matches to work and recover the good feelings before receiving Granada at the Johan Cruyff stadium (Saturday the 24th at 8:30 PM live on 3Cat, RTVE, and DAZN). Once again, Real Sociedad and Zubieta have been the bogey team for the blue and reds. Last season, the defeat, also seasoned with refereeing controversy, served to win all possible titles.