Barcelona suffer incredibly rare Liga F defeat - their third in three seasons - with Aitana Bonmati & Alexia Putellas unable to help Blaugrana overcome high-flying Real Sociedad

The game was decided by a somewhat harsh penalty, given against Barca defender Laia Aleixandri in the first half for a handball. There was no intent from the Spain international and she had little time to react, as she jumped to head away a ball into the box only for it to deflect off a team-mate less than a yard away and strike her arm. After consulting VAR, it was awarded as a spot-kick and Edna Imade made the most of the opportunity when she wrong-footed Cata Coll from 12 yards and gave La Real the lead.

What will frustrate Barca more than that decision is that they were unable to render it meaningless by scoring one of the many chances created at the other end. The Catalans had 16 shots to their hosts' six, but only forced opposing goalkeeper Julia Arrula into one save all afternoon as they failed to net in a league game for the first time since January 2020.

While this result is undoubtedly a surprise, it is not in the sense that some expected more results like this to go against Barca this season, because of the depleted squad the Spanish champions have at their disposal this time around. The financial situation at the club made headlines again this summer, with the men’s side facing frustratingly familiar issues when it came to meeting financial fair play rules and being able to register all their first-team players on time. In years gone by, these problems have spread to other sections of Barca, a multi-sports club, but never to the women’s team.

That is until now. In the summer, the three-time European champions had a difficult transfer window, watching the likes of Fridolina Rolfo, Ingrid Engen and Jana Fernandez leave while Laia Aleixandri was their only senior recruit. It left head coach Pere Romeu with a squad of just 18 senior players ahead of the 2025-26 season, a difficult number to fight on four fronts with.

Those issues have been exacerbated in recent weeks as Barca have lost a flurry of key players to injury. It is the last thing they needed given how small the squad is already.

Ewa Pajor, who scored more than 50 goals for club and country last season, is out for at least another few weeks with a knee injury; Patri Guijarro, arguably the best holding midfielder in the world, won’t play again until the New Year; and Salma Paralluelo may well be on the sidelines with her until 2026, after suffering an injury on international duty with Spain last week. That Kika Nazareth also picked up a knock while away with Portugal added salt to Barca's wounds.

It left the Spanish champions with just seven players on the bench for Sunday's clash with Real Sociedad, just four of whom were senior outfield players. The likes of Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas, with five Ballons d'Or between them, were still able to start and play 90 minutes, but they unfortunately could not inspire their side to a better result as La Real enjoyed a memorable outing.

Despite this setback, Barca are still four points clear at the top of the Liga F table with nine games played. They will hope this is just a blip and not the start of a worrying inability to rotate and still get results with this smaller squad, as there are some big matches on the horizon for Romeu's charges.

Home games against Deportivo La Coruna and OH Leuven follow and will be seen as games the Catalans should absolutely win to bounce back, with victories in those feeling particularly important given the games that follow. Barca host Real Madrid, second in Liga F, on November 15 and then visit Chelsea, the dominant English champions, in the Champions League on November 20. The hope will be that Pajor and Kika are back fit for those fixtures, able to at least boost the bench if not the starting XI.