Barcelona stumbles to draw

The away side conceded a penalty and had an appeal for a spot-kick turned down in added time. With the stalemate, Barcelona has 35 points after 16 games while Sociedad has 28 from the same number of fixtures. 

The host went ahead in the 12th minute with a Mikel Oyarzabal penalty. But goals from Antoine Griezmann and Luis Suarez either side of half-time put Barcelona in front, only for Alexander Isak to level shortly after the hour mark. Both sides went looking for a winner in a frantic finale and the tourist had a strong penalty shout waved away in stoppage time when Gerard Pique was tugged by defender Diego Llorente.

The incident appeared to provide a stronger case for a penalty than when Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets was punished for grabbing Llorente’s shirt early in the game. An aggrieved Busquets questioned why referee Javier Alberola Rojas was not instructed by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) to review the late incident involving Pique on the screen.

“If you set the bar so low as in the first penalty, then you have to give a lot of penalties. The VAR should have intervened in the last play, it’s a clear penalty against Pique,” said Busquets. “I think the referee saw it but didn’t want to award it. I don’t know why VAR didn’t intervene. I’d like to hear an explanation but there won’t be one.”

Atletico Madrid earned a commanding 2-0 win at home to Osasuna for its first victory in four La Liga games.

Diego Simeone’s side dominated the match and Osasuna goalkeeper Sergio Herrera had to make seven saves in the first half to keep the game goalless. Atletico finally broke the deadlock when its top-scorer Alvaro Morata headed home a free-kick from Kieran Trippier in the 67th minute.

Midfielder Saul Niguez made sure of victory by scoring with a dinked finish in the 75th minute, starting the move by winning the ball back deep in Osasuna’s half.