Barcelona responded to Madrid’s earlier victory with a closer-than-comfort 2-1 win of its own over Real Sociedad to stay undefeated at Camp Nou stadium this season.
With Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola resting some starters for Wednesday’s Copa del Rey semifinal against Valencia, youth player Cristian Tello scored Barcelona’s opener and Lionel Messi added another before Sociedad substitute Carlos Vela halved the final difference.
“I’m happy for the goal and because the coach had faith in me, but also for the win because the team needed it,” Tello said. “The league is very long and there are a lot of points left, so we have to be there when Madrid stumbles.”
Barcelona’s game against Sociedad followed a similar pattern to their earlier encounter this season, with the European champions owning both the ball and scoring chances but unable to decide the game early on.
Facing injuries to Spanish internationals Andres Iniesta, Pedro Rodriguez and David Villa, Guardiola again turned to Barcelona’s youth team and gave the nod to Tello along with midfielder Jonathan Dos Santos and winger Isaac Cuenca.
And it fell to Tello to start the scoring when he ran onto Messi’s pass and rolled a right-footed strike under the oncoming Claudio Bravo for the ninth-minute goal.
Barcelona, led by a Messi anxious for his first goal in four games, pressed hard to extend the lead.
Messi almost set up midfielder Cesc Fabregas with a deft scooped pass in the 26th only for Fabregas to send his shot sailing high.
Tello thought he had a brace in the 68th when he fired in Cuenca’s rebound that had come off the crossbar, but it was waived off after the referee ruled Dani Alves offside when the ball hit him on the goalline before finding the net.
Messi finally broke through in the 72nd when he made a diagonal run to meet Dani Alves’ lob and whipped it into the net with a left-footed shot for his 23rd goal in league play.
But just when Barcelona looked likely to cruise to another comfortable home win, Vela got behind the defense and coolly fired by Valdes two minutes later to keep nerves high until the end.
Sergio Busquets went on as a late substitute to shore up Barcelona’s midfield but lasted only 10 minutes before having to be carried off with an injury to his right leg after a collision with another player.
“He was very unlucky,” Tello said. “We hope it is nothing serious.”
