Barcelona 1-0 Atletico Madrid: Match Review

Barcelona took on Atletico Madrid in perhaps their steepest challenge remaining on the La Liga schedule early on Sunday. The Catalans were gifted with the returns of Pedri and Frenkie de Jong just before the clash and entered with a real need to turn their form around.

On the night, Xavi Hernandez opted for a formidable lineup. Marc Andre ter Stegen started in goal with Ronald Araujo and Marcos Alonso guarding the central defence. Jules Kounde started as the right-back Alejandro Balde on the opposite flank.

Frenkie de Jong made a long-awaited return in midfield alongside Sergio Busquets and Gavi while Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha and Ferran Torres completed the lineup.

Los Rojiblancos made a bright start to the game with a stunning chance in just the first minute. Sergio Busquets’ loose control was almost punished by Antoine Griezmann’s vicious shot but the former Barcelona man could only hit the woodwork.

Ten minutes into the game, it was still Diego Simeone’s side who sat in the driver’s seat. Barcelona could simply not break past the visitors’ defence and languished with no shot on target.

The Catalans’ first big chance of the game arose only 17 minutes after the opening whistle. Robert Lewandowski opened up Atleti’s defence with some smart trickery but could not find the finish. Lemar’s timely interception denied the hosts a chance off the rebound.

For close to 25 minutes after the opening spell, Xavi’s men dominated the possession and attacking play with no real chances created. The occasional opportunity sprung up sporadically but to no good use.

Just when it looked like Simeone’s men were happy to park the bus towards the end of the first half, Xavi’s side got their chance. After a well-worked play from Raphinha, the Brazilian found Torres outside the box directly in front of the goal. Cool as a cucumber, the former Manchester City man slotted the ball past Jan Oblak and gave his side the lead.

Heading into the tunnel at half-time, Barcelona were the happier of the two sides but only just. Even a minute before Torres’ opener, it was clear that something had to change about the Catalan dynamic and the goal did not change the fact.

Just two minutes into the restart, Raphinha and Torres combined again and almost doubled the Catalans’ lead. However, Oblak’s diving save kept the difference to one goal. 13 minutes later, the Brazilian’s shot went just wide of the post.

Eric Garcia and Pedri Gonzalez came on for Marcos Alonso and Ferran Torres. Seconds later, Gavi almost beat Oblak at his far post.

Atletico Madrid had a fabulous chance to equalise in the 62nd minute but Rodrigo de Paul completely skewed his shot from close range and failed to hit the target.

Barcelona’s verticality saw a significant improvement with Pedri on the field. The side looked well rounded and chances bore far more threat than they did until that point in the game.

A Blaugrana counterattack in the 69th minute was the hosts’ next big chance. Although Raphinha did very well to find Lewy, the Polish striker was just not at it.

Just a minute later, Barcelona fluffed a series of chances. Gavi could not finish off Raphinha’s cutback while the Brazilian failed to convert from Lewy’s pass.

In the 72nd minute, Antoine Griezmann’s heroic backheel was stopped by Marc Andre Ter Stegen’s reflexes to keep the score at 1-0.

Barcelona’s biggest chance squandered was unarguably in the 76th minute. With Atleti’s defence totally eliminated and just Jan Oblak off his line left to beat, Lewandowski chose to snub Raphinha and take a shot on goal. However, the Pole’s shot was nowhere close to the target.

Frenkie de Jong came off for Franck Kessie with 13 minutes left to play.

The final ten minutes featured a neck-to-neck tussle with both sides having their chances. In the end, Xavi’s men broke the losing curse and won their first game in four outings.

With this win, Barcelona clear the difficult test of Atletico Madrid and have one hand on the coveted La Liga title. With their lead over Real Madrid re-extended to 11 points, the title is theirs to lose.