BARCELONA, Spain, Jan 19, (AP): Ten-man Barcelona lost its first match in the Spanish league on Saturday, squandering a two-goal lead in a 3-2 defeat at Real Sociedad and conceding an injury-time winner.
Lionel Messi scored for a 14th straight game to open for Barcelona in the seventh minute, and Pedro Rodriguez appeared to give the visitors full control in the 25th.
But Gonzalo “Chori” Castro pulled one back in the 41st and equalized in the 63rd after Barcelona’s Gerard Pique was dismissed for a second yellow card.
Imanol Agirretxe went on in the 84th as Sociedad looked to press home its numerical advantage, and the striker tapped in Carlos Martinez’s last-gasp cross for the winning goal.
Barcelona had set a league record by winning 18 games and drawing only once by the competition’s midway point.
The Catalan club is still in command of the title race, 11 points ahead of Atletico Madrid before its game against Levante on Sunday. Defending champion Real Madrid is 18 points behind before Sunday’s visit to Valencia.
For the second time in four days, Barcelona’s defense has failed to protect a lead. On Wednesday, it let 10-man Malaga rally to score in stoppage time and snatch a 2-2 draw.
Saturday’s game was similar to last season’s meeting in San Sebastian between them. In both games Barcelona scored twice to apparently have the game in hand before Sociedad roared back. Last year the same fixture ended 2-2. Sociedad, which has lost only one of its last 10 games — a 4-3 shootout at Madrid this month — pressed up the pitch from the start.
But Barcelona looked set to extend its 12-game league winning run with Messi and Pedro each scoring and hitting the goal frame.
Messi struck with his first career goal at Anoeta Stadium and his league-leading 29th goal of the season through 20 matches.
Moments after a rare miss by Messi one-on-one with the goalkeeper, Andres Iniesta poached Claudio Bravo’s short goal kick, crossed the ball for Cesc Fabregas, who deftly let it roll through to Messi, and the Argentina forward quickly put the ball on his left foot before unleashing a precise strike just inside the upright.
It was then Pedro’s turn to get it right the second time.
The forward was denied by the post in the 14th, but he made it 2-0 minutes later when he volleyed home Dani Alves’ cross after Xavi Hernandez opened wide for the Brazil right back, who immediately picked out the forward charging free inside the area.
Messi almost had another goal in the 39th when he took Xavi’s pass and chipped it over the onrushing Bravo, only to see the ball bounce off the woodwork.
Earlier, Granada beat Rayo Vallecano 2-0 for its first home win in seven league games and moved three points above the relegation zone. Rayo, which remained in sixth place, saw its four-game winning streak come to an end.
On Sunday, Osasuna hosts Deportivo La Coruna, and Valladolid plays Real Zaragoza. Real Betis plays Athletic Bilbao on Monday.
Espanyol beat Mallorca 3-2 on Friday.