{"id":76151,"date":"2026-08-26T16:10:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/76151\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T16:10:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T16:10:12","slug":"real-sociedad-star-backs-barcelona-over-real-madrid-in-la-liga-title-race-they-are-stronger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/76151\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Sociedad star backs Barcelona over Real Madrid in La Liga title race: &#8216;They are stronger&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barcelona under Hansi Flick have gone back-to-back in La Liga and are looking to three-peat in the domestic competition this season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The German manager has reinforced the squad adequately to set it up for success yet again, and lifting La Liga again remains the bare minimum expectation from Bar\u00e7a.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Bar\u00e7a\u2019s two league titles have come at the expense of Real Madrid, who have gone trophyless since Hansi Flick\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This has prompted Florentino Perez to bring back Jose Mourinho, pump in the cash to reinforce the squad and try to break Bar\u00e7a\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, in an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/as.com\/futbol\/primera\/barrenetxea-jugar-contra-los-mejores-de-la-liga-te-pone-un-poco-en-tu-lugar-f202608-n\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">AS<\/a>, the Catalans have received an interesting vote of confidence from Real Sociedad winger Ander Barrenetxea.<\/p>\n<p>Barrenetxea gives Barcelona the advantage<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 24-year-old discussed the battle between Barcelona and Real Madrid and gave the edge to the former, at least in principle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI see Barcelona as stronger, but now Madrid with Mourinho can change everything, so I don\u2019t know, but in principle, Barcelona,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/real-sociedad-v-ca-osasuna-copa-del-rey-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Ander Barrenetxea, Real Sociedad player\" class=\"wp-image-210623\"  \/>Ander Barrenetxea feels Barcelona are better than Real Madrid. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is an interesting assessment coming from a player preparing to face Madrid and who will get an immediate opportunity to judge Mourinho\u2019s new-look team at close quarters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barrenetxea was complimentary about both Spanish giants and welcomed the fact that elite players are once again arriving in La Liga.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, Barcelona clearly made an impression on him, with the winger describing Flick\u2019s squad as a \u201cgreat team\u201d and highlighting Rodri\u2019s arrival as particularly significant.<\/p>\n<p>Bar\u00e7a have set the standard<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is a quote in English that reads: \u201cThe known devil is always better than the unknown angel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Spanish football, Flick\u2019s Bar\u00e7a are the known devil. They know exactly what the project is, how the team play and the fact that they are favourites to lift La Liga yet again.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Real Madrid, on the other hand, are an unknown commodity who have gone through significant squad changes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/real-sociedad-v-girona-fc-laliga-ea-sports-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Ander Barrenetxea, Real Sociedad player\" class=\"wp-image-210625\"  \/>Ander Barrenetxea is excited about Rodri\u2019s arrival in La Liga. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jose Mourinho is still trying to implement a tactical system and identify his best combination, whereas Bar\u00e7a are in the third year of their project.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/confirmed-barcelona-sign-rodri-from-manchester-city\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Rodri\u2019s arrival<\/a> should only raise that ceiling further. Adding a midfielder of his control and experience to an already powerful squad gives Flick another major weapon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking of Rodri, the Real Sociedad star picked him as the most exciting arrival in La Liga this summer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019d say Rodri. I also played with him on the national team. Barcelona has a fantastic team.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Barrenetxea is therefore right to include the Mourinho caveat. Madrid may develop considerably as the season progresses, but it is Bar\u00e7a who have set the standard.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Everything suggests that Flick\u2019s team are primed to challenge for La Liga yet again this season, and it remains to be seen how things play out on the pitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Barcelona under Hansi Flick have gone back-to-back in La Liga and are looking to three-peat in the domestic&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[4691,92,222,223,82,83,1143],"class_list":["post-76151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-madrid","tag-ander-barrenetxea","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-madrid","tag-real-madrid","tag-real-sociedad"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}