Frenkie de Jong didn’t hide his anger after Barcelona’s 2-1 loss to Real Sociedad on Sunday night. Right after the final whistle, he went off on referee Gil Manzano, saying the official looked at him like, “I’m better than you.” De Jong’s frustration was written all over his face.

Barcelona had a rough night in Anoeta. Two goals got called off—one from Lamine Yamal that looked pretty dubious—and a penalty got overturned. The team’s 11-game winning run crashed to a halt, and you could feel the players’ disbelief.

Mikel Oyarzabal put Sociedad ahead before halftime, but Marcus Rashford got Barca back in it with an equaliser in the second half. The celebration didn’t last long, though. Goncalo Guedes slipped in the winner right after Jules Kounde rattled the crossbar and Alex Remiro pulled off some ridiculous saves.

By full-time, De Jong had had enough. When DAZN España caught up with him, he tried to keep it together at first. “We deserved to win. We created plenty of chances but just didn’t finish. We played well, but in the end, we didn’t win. Their keeper had a great night,” he said.

Then the topic of those disallowed goals came up. “If it’s offside, it’s offside. There’s nothing more to it. I haven’t seen the replays. They told us it wasn’t offside. I told the fourth official, “Something just like this happened last year here.”

But when he turned his attention to Manzano, De Jong really let loose. “The thing is, you can’t even talk to the ref. I’m the captain, and I still don’t get it. He looks at me like he’s above me. It’s so frustrating. You just can’t act like that.”

“We missed a lot of chances, and that’s what stings the most. Right at the end, I told him to look at the clock—taking a goal kick took a full minute. That’s normal, but he didn’t even add ten seconds. That’s just crazy. I told him so, and he gave me a card.”

Even with the loss, things aren’t all bad for Barcelona. Hansi Flick’s side still sits on top of La Liga, a point ahead of Real Madrid. The winning streak is over, but the team’s still leading the pack and heads to Sparta Prague for their next Champions League match on Wednesday.

Barcelona had a wild one. They hit the post four times, saw two goals chalked off, and now lead Real Madrid by just a single point at the top. Real Madrid closed the gap on Saturday by beating Levante, thanks to Alvaro Arbeloa’s side taking care of business.

Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal got the opener against Barcelona, but right after Marcus Rashford drew Barca level, Guedes fired home the winner.

Sociedad, now unbeaten in four matches under their new American coach, Pellegrino Matarazzo, finished with ten after Carlos Soler saw red late on. Still, they dug deep, held on, and climbed to eighth.

“I told the team we played well and just got unlucky. Sometimes you lose and can’t explain it, but this was one of those days. Now we just have to focus on the next game,” said Barca boss Flick.

Sociedad’s keeper, Alex Remir,o was everywhere, pulling off big saves to keep Barcelona out.

“Three massive points and a great performance,” Remiro said. “We’ve started the year in top form. This is our new energy; you can see how much we’ve changed.”

The match at the rainy Reale Arena started at full tilt. In the opening half-minute, Oyarzabal thought he’d scored from a Guedes cross, only to be flagged offside. Then Barca’s Fermin Lopez smashed in a long-range shot, but Dani Olmo had fouled in the build-up—ruled out.

Barcelona’s teenage winger Lamine Yamal kept causing problems down the right. He even scored, but the flag went up for a razor-thin offside call. Sociedad then struck against the run of play—Oyarzabal volleyed in Guedes’s cross at the near post.

In the second half, Barcelona piled on the pressure. Remiro and the woodwork kept them out. Olmo rattled the post from a Lopez cross, and Remiro stopped him again moments later with a sharp save. The highlight? Remiro tipped Robert Lewandowski’s header onto the bar—save of the night.

Eventually, Rashford found the equaliser, heading in Yamal’s cross with twenty minutes left. But right after, Sociedad pounced. Barca keeper Joan Garcia spilt a shot from Soler, who collected the rebound and crossed for Guedes to smash home.

Sociedad could’ve put it away when Garcia was stranded, and Oyarzabal shot at goal, but Pau Cubarsi somehow cleared off the line. Barcelona nearly levelled again—Joao Cancelo, making his second debut, crossed for Jules Kounde, who crashed a header off the bar.

Tensions flared late. Soler got sent off for a nasty foul on Pedri, and the ref added nine minutes of stoppage time. Rashford almost rescued a point, hitting the post directly from a corner, but Barca couldn’t break through.

“We deserved to win today. We had so many chances, but if you don’t finish them, you don’t win,” said Frenkie de Jong, who also complained about referee Jesus Gil Manzano. “He was arrogant,” added de Jong, and Flick agreed: “I don’t want to waste energy on him. Frenkie’s right.”

Sociedad coach Matarazzo praised his players’ heart, admitted they had some luck, and thanked Remiro. “A top keeper isn’t luck, but yeah, it’s a bit of both,” he said.

Elsewhere, after drawing at Sociedad last time out, Diego Simeone’s Atletico got back to winning ways. Sorloth’s goal put them seven points clear of Espanyol in fifth. The match was tight, but early in the second half, Sorloth soared to meet Pablo Barrios’s cross and broke the deadlock. That’s three in three games for Sorloth now.

“He’s in his best run since he joined us,” Simeone said.