In the 50th minute of Barcelona’s Spanish Super Cup semi-final tie against Real Sociedad, the Basque outfit were gifted the chance to equalise from the same man that left them trailing behind.
Just five minutes after the half-time break, Frenkie De Jong, who opened the scoring for Barcelona before the interval with a lovely team goal, was adjudged to have handled the ball.
The central midfielder was seen to have handled the ball after a cross from Mikel Merino, there was really no preventing this to be honest, De Jong did his job – perhaps even above and beyond – in tracking back all the way to the box, as his defensive efforts were harshly punished.
Mikel Oyarzabal stepped up and enlisted the use of a unique stutter-step technique before slotting the ball into the bottom corner, sending Marc-Andre ter Stegen the wrong way with his lovely strike.
#RealSociedadBarça
Real Sociedad 1-1 Barcelona – GOAL! Oyarzabal ?pic.twitter.com/gpztY5CgNA— ???? ????? (@Fastgoal2) January 13, 2021
Pictures from L’Equipe.
This was certainly an unlucky moment for De Jong and the Blaugrana, perhaps it will force Ronald Koeman to bring Lionel Messi off the bench – but that could risk aggravating injury trouble.