FC Barcelona got three important points with a game in hand against a nine man Atletico Madrid and won 2-1 at the Camp No. After losing the lead early from a goal from Koke, Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez brought the Colchoneros back right down to earth.

The last two La Liga champions faced in each other in an important match, with both teams level on points and looking to achieve an advantage regarding their title ambitions. A win for the Blaugrana at home would have put them three points ahead with a game in a hand, while a win for Los Colchoneros would have put them top of the table and also put the title race wide open.

Entertaining first half

In the first half, it was an early chance made by Atletico Madrid in the second minute as Antoine Griezmann provided the ball to Saul and his shot from distance made Claudio Bravo rise up and save it out for a corner kick. In the 10th minute, Koke took the lead for Diego Simeone’s men. A ball given from the right allowed Koke to provide a sensational finish past Bravo.

Various chances followed that goal including a miss opportunity from a give and go with Messi and Suarez and a corner in the 16th minute, in which a volley from Dani Alves allowed Jan Oblak to provide the great save. Four minutes later, Augusto Fernandez had a chance and a shot from distance on the left that just went wide of the Chilean goalkeeper’s goal. In the 26th minute, Lionel Messi got a free kick on the right with a chance on goal and while he got it over the Atleti wall, the ball went wide right of the Slovenian’s goal.  The Uruguayan striker had another chance in the 29th minute with a shot straight onto goal, but Oblak did well with his goalkeeping to stop that just in time.

Seconds later, Neymar gets the ball on the left to provide the ball to Jordi Alba and the Spanish international feeds the ball straight to Messi to provide a sensational finish and beat the Atleti defense and Oblak to level it up at 1-1. 

In the 38th minute, Barcelona take the lead and a ball was fed from Dani Alves on the right to allow Suarez to draw blood again and finish past Oblak and his 19th goal in all competitions. Just seconds before halftime, a challenge made from Filipe Luis on Messi gave Alberto Undiano no choice but to sent the Brazilian off and put Atletico Madrid down to ten men.

Atletico Madrid scoring the first goal. Photo: AFP
Atletico Madrid scoring the first goal. Photo: AFP

Big advantage

In the second half, Barcelona continued their dominance and Suarez, with a chance on goal in the 53rd minute, was taken away from his compatriot Diego Godin just in the time. A big chance came in the 56th minute, allowed Griezmann a shot on goal and allow Bravo to make a sensational save. In the 65th minute, Godin provided a big challenge on his national team compatriot Suarez as Atletico continued the remainder of the match with nine players. 

It only went bad to worse as Augusto Fernandez had to get off in the 76th minute with a serious injury, who recently signed for the club just weeks ago. Luis Suarez had another chance minutes later but his shot went wide of goal.

In the end, Barcelona got the three points with a game in a hand and now have 51 points to go top of La Liga, three points above Atletico Madrid. They will now host Valencia in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals on Wednesday evening and face Levante next Sunday in the league. Atletico Madrid will host Eibar next Sautrday.

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About the author
Roberto Rojas
Writing about the beautiful game. Cohost of the @LowLimitFutbol Podcast.