Zinedine Zidane’s side have dropped more points than in the whole of last season and are 19 points behind Barcelona after Villarreal won at the Bernabéu – at their 19th attempt
Sergio Busquets probably felt like hiding behind his hands. “The ghosts appeared,” he said. It was a cold, dark night and everywhere he looked they were there. If he looked left, especially. Blue and white figures flew past. Over the other side, on the touchline, Ernesto Valverde pulled his jacket up tight and peered through the pouring rain. “You must have thought: ‘again’,” he was asked afterwards, when it was finally over – the match, the curse, probably the title, too. “Exactly,” he said. Everyone did. The day before, Barcelona’s manager had described this as the “worst place” – there was something about it that haunted Barcelona, had a hold over them, something that defeated them, or so it goes. Now, that seemed confirmed.
Between them, Pep Guardiola, Tito Vilanova, Tata Martino and Luis Enrique won six leagues, five Copa del Reys and three European Cups, 25 trophies in all, but not one league game at Anoeta. It had been more than a decade since Barcelona won there. Only Leo Messi and Andrés Iniesta were left from that day in May 2007, and Messi hadn’t appeared yet while Iniesta was sheltered on the bench – for his own protection, Valverde admitted, and for theirs, too. Except there was no protection from Real Sociedad, from Sergio Canales, Willian José, Xabi Prieto and Álvaro Odriozola, and Barcelona, unbeaten in 27, not defeated since the Super Copa was over and the season began, were losing.
Related: Luis Suárez inspires Barcelona fightback against Real Sociedad to end curse
Related: Real Madrid stunned by Villarreal at Bernabéu as Pablo Fornals strikes late
Getafe 1-0 Malaga, Deportivo 1-2 Valencia, Eibar 0-1 Atlético Madrid, Real Madrid 0-1 Villarreal, Girona 6-0 Las Palmas, Real Sociedad 2-4 Barcelona, Espanyol 1-1 Athletic Bilbao, Alaves 1-0 Sevilla, Levante 0-1 Celta Vigo
Continue reading...