Barcelona’s 11-game winning streak ends with 2-1 loss at Real Sociedad in Spanish league

MADRID (AP) — Barcelona’s 11-game winning streak ended Sunday with a 2-1 loss at Real Sociedad in the Spanish league.

Barcelona had three goals disallowed — as well as a penalty-kick call reversed by video review — in the first half alone. It had five attempts hit the woodwork, including an 84th-minute header by Jules Koundé from close range.

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Real Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo is transported off the pitch during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Barcelona’s Eric Garcia, centre, kicks the ball ahead of Real Sociedad’s Mikel Oyarzabal, left, and Barcelona’s Frenkie de Jong during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal, left, in action during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Barcelona’s head coach Hansi Flick during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

Real Sociedad’s Goncalo Guedes, right, celebrates with Real Sociedad’s Alvaro Odriozola after scoring his side’s second goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Real Sociedad and Barcelona in San Sebastian, Spain, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses)

The loss left the Catalan club one point ahead of second-place Real Madrid, which beat Levante 2-0 at home on Saturday.

Mikel Oyarzabal put the hosts ahead with a volley by the far post in the 32nd minute. Barcelona equalized with a header from Marcus Rashford in the 70th but a minute later Gonçalo Guedes put Sociedad ahead again with a shot from inside the area.

Barcelona had plenty of chances throughout the match. It thought it had taken the lead a few minutes into the game when Fermín López scored with a low shot from outside the area, but the goal was disallowed by video review for a foul by Dani Olmo on Sociedad’s Takefusa Kubo in the buildup.

Barcelona also had a goal by Frenkie de Jong called back for offside in the 21st and another by Lamine Yamal in the 27th.

Yamal was awarded a penalty in first-half stoppage time but the call was reversed because he was offside.

Sociedad’s Carlos Soler was sent off in the 88th.

Barcelona had won 11 in a row across all competitions in a streak that included a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in the final of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia last weekend. It hadn’t lost since a 3-0 road defeat against Chelsea in the league phase of the Champions League.

Its last Spanish league loss had been a 2-1 defeat against Real Madrid in the first clasico of the season at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in October.

It was the second consecutive win for Sociedad, which moved to eighth place.

Barcelona forward Raphinha was not included in the squad for Sunday’s match. João Cancelo made his debut off the bench in the second half after recently signing with the Catalan club.

Kubo had to be taken off the field on a stretcher in the second half because of an injury.

Alexander Sorloth scored early in the second half to give Atletico Madrid a 1-0 home win over relegation-threatened Alaves.

Sorloth struck in the 48th minute with a firm header from near the penalty spot after Pablo Barrios crossed from the right flank. The ball hit the post at the far corner before going in.

It was the 10th start in 19 league games for Sorloth this season. The Norway forward has six goals, three with headers.

Alaves, winless in five straight league games, came close to equalizing a few times late in the match at the Metropolitano stadium in the Spanish capital.

Alaves has seven losses in its last nine league games, with its only win, 1-0, against Real Sociedad in December.

Earlier Sunday, Valencia moved out of the relegation zone by winning 1-0 at Getafe with an 84th-minute goal by José Gayà.

The result ended Valencia’s six-game winless streak in the league. Getafe is now winless in six consecutive league games, with five losses.

Celta Vigo routed 10-man Rayo Vallecano 3-0 at home. The visitors played with 10 men from the 66th after Nobel Mendy was sent off for a hard foul after VAR review.

It was the third win in a row for Celta, which is seventh. Rayo is 13th.

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NEW YORK wit (AP) — What sounds like President Donald Trump narrating a new Fannie Mae ad actually is an AI-cloned voice reading text, according to a disclaimer in the video.

The voice in the ad, created with permission from the Trump administration, promises an “all new Fannie Mae” and calls the institution the “protector of the American Dream.” The ad comes as the administration is making a big push to show voters it is responding to their concerns about affordability, including in the housing market.

Trump plans to talk about housing at his appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders and corporate executives meet this week.

This isn’t the first time a member of the Trump family has used AI to replicate their voice, First Lady Melania Trump recently employed AI technology firm Eleven Labs to help voice the audio version of her memoir. It’s not known who cloned President Trump’s voice for the Fannie Mae ad.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Last month, Trump pledged in a prime-time address that he would roll out “some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history.”

“For generations, home ownership meant security, independence, and stability,” Trump’s digitized voice says in the one-minute ad aired Sunday. “But today, that dream feels out of reach for too many Americans not because they stopped working hard but because the system stopped working for them.”

Fannie Mae and its counterpart Freddie Mac, which have been under government control since the Great Recession, buy mortgages that meet their risk criteria from banks, which helps provide liquidity for the housing market. The two firms guarantee roughly half of the $13 trillion U.S. home loan market and are a bedrock of the U.S. economy.

The ad says Fannie Mae will work with the banking industry to approve more would-be homebuyers for mortgages.

Trump, Bill Pulte, who leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and others have said they want to sell shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on a major stock exchange but no concrete plans have been set.

Trump and Pulte have also floated extending the 30-year mortgage to 50 years in order to lower monthly payments. Trump appeared to back off the proposal after critics said a longer-term loan would reduce people’s ability to create housing equity and increase their own wealth.

Trump also said on social media earlier this month that he was directing the federal government to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds, a move he said would help reduce mortgage rates at a time when Americans are anxious about home prices. Trump said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have $200 billion in cash that will be used to make the purchase.

Earlier this month, Trump also said he wants to block large institutional investors f rom buying houses, saying that a ban would make it easier for younger families to buy their first homes.

Trump’s permission for the use of AI is interesting given that he has complained about aides in the Biden administration using autopen to apply the former president’s signature to laws, pardons or executive orders. An autopen is a mechanical device that is used to replicate a person’s authentic signature.

However, a report issued by House Republicans does not include any concrete evidence that autopen was used to sign Biden’s name without his knowledge.