FC Barcelona achieved two important feats in last night's 2-1 victory against Real Sociedad. First, they were able to finally break into the qualification spots for European competitions after languishing in the middle of the table since the start of the season. Second, they gave Atletico Madrid the chance to leapfrog over La Real to take the lead at the top of the table.

The Catalan giants moved up from eighth to fifth position following the victory, which means that they are now qualified into the group stage of next season's Europa League. They will be aiming to improve further and break into the top four and into the UEFA Champions League spots.

Barcelona still has two games in hand against Real Sociedad and one in hand against Real Madrid and Villarreal who are in third and fourth place respectively. Barca is only two points behind Villarreal, which means that they can easily break into the top four with another win.

However, everyone is playing catch-up to Atletico Madrid. They are currently sitting on top of the table with 26 points. While La Real and Los Blancos also have 26 points, they have each played 14 and 13 games. Meanwhile, Atletico has only played 11. If they win their games in hand, they can easily extend a comfortable lead at the top.

Back to last night's game, Real Sociedad were hoping to keep up with Atletico to maintain a good position on top of La Liga. They started the game well with Willian Jose tapping in to take the lead on the 27th minute.

However, Barcelona came from behind with goals from Jordi Alba and Frenkie de Jong.

This time, there won't be any whining from the Barcelona bench as the VAR decision went their way. de Jong's goal was initially called offside, but the VAR review decided otherwise.

Real Sociedad missed the opportunity to maintain an early lead in La Liga, after having drawn their last six games before losing to Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Barcelona had a very slow start but are now only six points behind the leaders.

Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi with Frenkie de Jong AFP / Marco BERTORELLO
Atletico Madrid