Real Sociedad women bemoan gulf in class after 10-1 thrashing by Barcelona
The coach of Real Sociedad’s women’s team has warned of the danger of Barcelona’s side getting ever more powerful after his team were hammered 10-1 by the Catalans in the first ever women’s Supercopa final on Sunday.
Sociedad lifted the domestic cup last season and beat Levante 1-0 in the semi-final of the inaugural Supercopa, while Barça, last year’s league runnersup, defeated league champions Atlético Madrid.
But there was an evident gulf in class in Sunday’s showpiece in front of 9,000 fans at the Helmántico stadium, as Marta Torrejón scored four goals while Alexia Putellas and Nigerian international Asisat Oshoala each scored two.
“Every team feels that we cannot compete with this Barca side,” Sociedad coach Gonzalo Arconada told a news conference. “The federation must decide if this is what they wanted. Barca were always going to win the game and we had to suffer this humiliation.”
Barça are on course to end a fiveyear wait to be crowned Spanish champions as they hold a nine-point lead over nearest challengers Atlético after 18 games, of which they have won 16 and drawn two while scoring 68 goals.
They reached the final of the Champions League for the first time in May, losing to Olympique Lyonnais, but bolstered their squad in the close season by signing Norway international Caroline Graham Hansen, who was also on target in the Supercopa final.
The double-figure victory over Sociedad followed other big wins for Barca this season, including 9-1 and 6-0 wins over CD Tacón, the club that will be absorbed by Real Madrid next season.
“Their budget is much bigger than everyone else’s,” said Arconada, “and the federation must decide if they want them to humiliate the other teams like this.”
Barcelona coach Lluís Cortés responded by saying: “Each club invests in women’s football as much as they want to and the percentage in relation to the spending on the men’s team is very small. I wish we could always win 10-1, but I am sure this won’t happen when we meet next in the league. Things went really well for us today but in the majority of games we really have to fight.”