‘Inaki, don’t give me the ball!’… Barcelona defender’s worrying call reveals the team’s struggles against Real Sociedad | OneFootball

Without a shadow of a doubt, it was clear to see just how much FC Barcelona were frustrated by Real Sociedad in their latest encounter. La Real, in front of their home fans at the Reale Arena, made sure to suffocate the Catalan giants as much as possible. Ultimately, the game ended in a defeat for Barcelona in what was a frustrating outing from start to finish.

However, beyond what could be assessed across a screen or from outside the pitch, there were some clear issues within the Barcelona team that was on the field as well. As it turns out, even the players themselves were having an extremely hard time delegating tasks to one another or simply being able to figure out any answers to La Real’s structure.

Completely being suffocated by the opposition, Barcelona were left with no option but to go long and try to build their way out of pressure through that tactic. Unfortunately, the team was unable to hold onto possession due to some poor ball-playing from Inaki Pena as well as being physically outmuscled by the opponents.

Now, as highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, Movistar+ cameras managed to catch another interesting detail that pretty much sums up the outing that Barcelona had. Many of the Barcelona players, most notably the likes of Marc Casado, Pedri, Inigo Martinez, and Inaki Pena were constantly trying to figure out a way to get through Real Sociedad but achieved no success.

The 33-year-old defender even had an incident where he warned his Barcelona goalkeeper not to give him the back because he feared that he would lose it from the pressure that La Real were piling on him:

‘Inaki, don’t give me that ball, I’m alone. I’m going to lose it.”

Unfortunately for both the goalkeeper and the defender, it did not take La Real too many minutes after that conversation to win the ball after a long pass from Pena and see it through to the back of the Barcelona shot-stopper’s net. Ultimately, that goal went on to be the game-defining moment that gave the home side all three points over Hansi Flick’s team.