Barcelona back in second in La Liga after win over Real Sociedad

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona moved above Girona into second place in the Spanish league after beating Real Sociedad 2-0 on Monday.

Sheraldo Becker had the ball in the net midway through the first half for Sociedad but the goal was disallowed for offside.

Barcelona, though, gradually took control with Raphinha hitting the woodwork after 38 minutes and Lamine Yamal breaking the deadlock two minutes later.

Ilkay Gündogan broke forward and slipped a cross ball to Yamal who made no mistake from 15 yards out. It was the 16-year-old’s fifth goal of the league season.

“It was an important game to recover second place,” Yamal said. “Real started well and we took a bit of time to find ourselves. But we got better little by little.”

Raphina completed the scoring from the penalty spot three minutes into stoppage time after Álvaro Odriozola was adjudged to have handled in the box.

The result pushed Barcelona to one point more than Girona.

Real Sociedad was seventh, a point behind Real Betis.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer