La Liga: Barcelona Thrash 10-Man Real Sociedad To Reclaim Top Spot

Barcelona secured a comfortable 4-0 win over Real Sociedad on Sunday to move back top of La Liga. Aritz Elustondo's early red card gave Hansi Flick's side a comfortable afternoon with Gerard Martin, Marc Casado, Ronald Araujo and Robert Lewandowski on the scoresheet. Atletico Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao on Saturday to temporarily knock the Catalans from their perch, while Real Madrid, third, lost at Real Betis. Flick was able to rotate his side a little ahead of the Champions League last 16 visit to face Benfica on Wednesday and still move one point above Atletico.

"There were a lot of things that helped us a lot today, the red card but also how we played, we were dominant after the red card," Flick told reporters.

The German coach said before the game Barca would fight hard to win all of the three major competitions they are in, and reiterated it afterwards.

"Today we are happy with the three points and there's a long way to go in La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League," he continued.

"We will fight for every title and when we started the season no-one (expected) this.

"We're in this situation, that we can fight (for the trophies), and that's what we want until the end of the season."

Real Sociedad, ninth, threatened in the opening stages but fell foul of Barcelona's offside trap, with Sergio Gomez's strike ruled out.

At the other end Barcelona playmaker Pedri Gonzalez came close when he pressed La Real goalkeeper Alex Remiro and deflected his attempted clearance just over and onto the roof of the net.

The game swung Barcelona's way when Elustondo was sent off in the 17th minute for pulling down Dani Olmo, who was running through on goal.

The hosts took the lead after 25 minutes when Olmo chipped the ball