Atletico Madrid landed a rather surprising but certainly vital victory for their La Liga title aspirations on Saturday evening, beating rivals Barcelona at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in a most shocking fashion.
Barcelona’s first-half domination culminated with Pedri breaking the deadlock in the 30th minute, but Rodrigo De Paul equalized on the hour mark. The real shock happened in the sixth minute of stoppage time though, when Atletico substitute Alexander Sorloth scored to snatch all three points for the visitors.
The teams
Barcelona sorely miss 17-year-old sensation Lamine Yamal, absent through an ankle injury. Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen is a long-term absentee. Marc Bernal and Andreas Christensen were unavailable as well.
Inaki Pena was in goal for the Catalans. Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi paired up the heart of defence, flanked by Jules Kounde and Alejandro Balde. Pedri joined Marc Casado in the middle of the park, while Gavi played in a slightly more advanced role, helping Raphinha and Fermin Lopez in supporting striker Robert Lewandowski from wide positions.
As for Atletico, they are in a much better situation injury-wise. Forward Marcos Paulo, who has returned early from his loan at Belgian side RWD Molenbeek due to an ACL tear, is the only name on the list of absentees.
With Jan Oblak in goal, Javi Galan and Marcos Llorente flanked centre-backs Jose Gimenez and former Barcelona man Clement Lenglet. De Paul and Pablo Barrios were tasked with the hard work in the middle of the park, with Giuliano Simeone and Conor Gallagher in wider roles. Antoine Griezmann, also once a Barcelona player, was joined by Julian Alvarez in attack.
The game recap
In the first half, Barcelona established themselves as the dominant team on the pitch, keeping the ball in the opposition half with ease and forcing the visitors to focus solely on defending. Alvarez and Griezmann were there but utterly invisible, completely cut off from the game itself.
Meanwhile, Raphinha, who shone for Barcelona throughout the game, had the first real chance of the game after five minutes as he hit one low from the right flank, but his shot was blocked by Gallagher. Inigo Martinez was the next to threaten Oblak seriously with a powerful volley, but the Slovenian ‘keeper was well-positioned. One of a number of fine crosses from Raphinha found an unmarked Gavi in the air in the 25th minute, but the young midfielder headed just wide.
But luck finally smiled at the home side in the 30th minute, and they obviously deserved it. Pedri picked the ball up on the left and played it to Gavi on the edge of the box. Gavi actually failed to control it properly, but it worked out perfectly for Pedri who took it in his stride and fired low towards the far post. The shot picked up a slight deflection off Llorente who slid in to try and block it, and the change of direction, as minimal as it was, took it just out of Oblak’s reach and into the bottom corner.
Having taken the lead, Barcelona slightly relaxed the pressure on the Rojiblancos, though they still kept the whole flow of the game under control for the rest of the half and it seemed they were on their way to a easier victory than they might’ve expected. All Atletico could do was to stay in the game, but stay they did.
Less than three minutes after the break, Fermin Lopez had a great chance to double Barcelona’s lead and had he done so, the outcome of the match would probably have been different. Gimenez’s poor pass in his own half was intercepted by Raphinha, who played it quickly to Pedri and the goalscorer extended it into Lopez’s path on the left. The 21-year-old was through with only Oblak ahead, but trying to get his shot off as quickly as possible, he lost his footing and Oblak was able to make a fine save.
Pedri threatened again in the 55th minute, but his shot went over the bar, and two minutes later, Raphinha and Lewandowski each missed a great opportunity to increase Barcelona’s lead. Pedri produced a fabulous pass to release Raphinha in behind, and the Brazilian winger poked it over the onrushing Oblak, hitting the crossbar. Lewandowski was quick to react and tried to fire it in, but Axel Witsel, who had replaced Gimenez a few minutes before, blocked the shot.
And then came minute 60, and with it, the first sign of attacking intent from Atletico. It was De Paul who started it with a lovely pass down the left flank for Alvarez. The former Manchester City forward put it low into the box, and Casado reacted a little thoughtlessly, back-heeling it away from the goal and out of the box – and straight into the path of De Paul who hit it first-time, low and accurately, to equalize.
Fifteen minutes later, Barcelona came as close as possible to getting back ahead, but it wasn’t to be. Raphinha’s pass to the left flank found substitute Ferran Torres unmarked, and Torres pulled it back for Lewandowski at six yards, but in an extremely uncharacteristic fashion, the Polish striker mishit the ball and allowed Oblak to pick it up.
But heartened by De Paul’s equalizer, Atletico were now up for the game and they started threatening at the other end as well. Just two minutes after Lewandowski’s embarrassment, Alvarez had a great chance to turn the score completely around, but Pena made an excellent save.
As the match approached its end, Barcelona gradually increased the pressure on the visitors in search of a winner. Another substitute, Dani Olmo, worked up a nice chance for himself in the 81st minute, but his shot from close range trickled wide. Pedri created another one for Raphinha in the 86th, but Oblak closed the angle down and made an easy save. Then it was Olmo’s turn to create for Pedri, but Oblak was up to the task again.
Atletico were again having problems getting out of their half, but in the 96th minute, as Barcelona’s strength wavered for an instant, De Paul picked the ball up near the halfway line wide on the right. Balde was obviously too tired to track the run of a much fresher Atletico substitute Nahuel Molina, and Molina’s low cross found Sorloth, yet another one who had come off the bench, unmarked in the box. Sorloth fired powerfully and left Pena unable to do anything about it, winning the game for Atletico completely against the run of play.
The aftermath
Barcelona have always been known as a club that regularly produces fantastic players – La Masia is justly famous for it. However, Diego Simeone’s side is extremely experienced, consisting of players who know how to win games against more talented opponents, and whose focus rarely falters before the final whistle.
And with that in mind, even though they had only 37% of possession in this game and seemed inferior for the most of its course, they arguably deserved their win, if only for that ability to remain tactically disciplined and fight to the end.
Be that as it may, Atletico have now broken atop of the La Liga table with 41 points, three more than Barcelona in second place, though Real Madrid may move above the Catalans if they beat Sevilla at the Santiago Bernabeu on Sunday. Furthermore, both Atletico and Real have a game in hand on Barcelona, and Hansi Flick will have to find a way to help his team snap out of this bout of poor form.
Barcelona have taken just five points from their last seven matches in the Spanish top flight.
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