Barcelona 2-1 Real Sociedad: 4 Men who were brilliant for the Blaugrana

Barcelona defeated Real Sociedad 2-1 victory at the Camp Nou to go nine points clear at the top of the La Liga. For Barcelona, the goals were scored by Clement Lenglet and Jordi Alba. On the other hand, Juanmi got the only goal of the match for the visitors

The first half of the match started a bit slow and both teams were looking to stroke the ball around without having much creativity. The first big chance of the match came to the away side as Juanmi's close-range effort was saved by Ter-Stegan before Willian Jose struck on the rebound.

Luis Suarez also drew out a decent save from Rulli at the other end and just before the half-time whistle, the home side went in front after Ousmane Dembele picked out Lenglet from the corner and the latter headed it in.

The second half of the match was more open as the away side had a go at the Blaugrana. Sociedad were able to equalize through Juanmi who slotted past Ter-Stegan after being sent one-on-one by Merino.

Just two minutes after the equalizer, Barcelona went in front on through Alba who scored with his weaker foot. After that, it was all about the home side being able to hold on and they did that to register another victory.

Here are the 4 men who were the catalyst of the victory for the league leaders:

#4 Ousmane Dembele

Ousmane Dembele replaced Phillipe Coutinho in the starting XI against Real Sociedad and the young winger did a great job in the Brazilian's absence as he looked threatening for the entire night.

His runs off the ball were causing problems for the visitors' defense but that final touch was lacking from the Frenchman's display. His link-up play with Lionel Messi was also brilliant. and even assisted Barcelona's first goal.

He came close to scoring in the second half as his curling effort went inches wide of the post. He was substituted later on and received a standing ovation from the Camp Now.

#3 Lionel Messi

Another day, another match and another great display from the little maestro. While Lionel Messi didn't look at his best against Sociedad but he still managed to inflict some pain on the opposing backline.

Around the 26th minute, Messi hit a free-kick just over the bar. The Argentinian came close to scoring after he dazzled his way into the Sociedad box before playing a one-two with Suarez but the latter's pass was over hit and it allowed Rulli to get to the ball just in front of Messi.

The 31-year-old got an assist for Barcelona's second goal as he found Alba with a brilliant pass. Messi now has 13 assists to his name in the La Liga.

#2 Jordi Alba

Jordi Alba put in another shift at left-back for Barcelona and this time, he was rewarded with a goal and it was thoroughly deserved by the Spaniard. Alba didn't have much to do defensively in the first half but he was putting in some brilliant crosses in the attacking third.

In the second half, Alba put his side in front after he was found by Messi making a run in the box and the latter beat two defenders before hitting a low drive with his weaker foot into the back of the net.

The Spaniard wasn't troubled much defensively but he did his job well whenever the away side attacked. All in all, it was another astute display from the veteran full-back.

#1 Clement Lenglet

Clement Lenglet put in a man of the match performance at the heart of the defense for Barcelona. He scored their opening goal on the day and his first for his new club since joining at the start of the season.

At the beginning of the match, he was looking a bit shaky but he grew into the game as the match went on. The 23-year-old's passing was pinpoint and he did a great job in minimizing the threat from the away side on the counter-attack.

It was the Frenchman's brilliant header from the corner which gave Barcelona the lead and Lenglet has played Samuel Umtiti out of the Barca playing XI. This string of solid performances have given Ernesto Valverde a lot to think about but it is certainly a great problem to have.