First final at the Camp Nou

Barça do not trust a Real Sociedad side that beat them in the first half of the season. Luis Enrique’s men have racked up 27 wins since slipping up at Anoeta.

Barcelona hold a two-point lead over Real Madrid.

In the absence of knowing if this is the final matchday of the La Liga season in the event that the strike prompted by the RFEF and carried out by the players is successful, Barça will treat the visit of Real Sociedad to the Camp Nou as the first final that they must play at home. The second will be, depending on the strike, against Athletic Club on May 30 in the final of the Copa del Rey.

Luis Enrique has based all of his work in recent days on diminishing the sense of euphoria that has festered at Barcelona following the 3-0 defeat of Bayern Munich on Wednesday. He has not forgotten that it was Real Sociedad, exactly 19 Liga matches ago, who provided him with his worst moment as Barça coach.

Barcelona’s defeat at Anoeta in January represented a significant setback for the Catalan team, who lifted themselves up after that. Luis Enrique’s men have played 29 matches since that day and they have won 27 of them, drawing once at Sevilla and losing at home to Málaga. An extraordinary run.

Relief. Conscious of the importance of the match, Luis Enrique will rotate a little bit because he has already said that he considers all of the matches that remain ahead as finals. And anyway, for him, the match that will kick off at 6pm on Saturday is the most important one.

The three stars up front are untouchable, although Luis Suárez is one yellow card away from suspension and if booked he would miss the match against Atlético Madrid if the strike does not go ahead.

Ivan Rakitic, Javier Mascherano, Andrés Iniesta and even Jordi Alba may be rotated, with Xavi, Marc Bartra, Rafinha and Adriano in line to replace them, but the Barcelona spirit will be the same.