Atletico Madrid 0-1 Barcelona: Barcelona has achieved an important victory in the battle for the league title. The traditionally tough away game against Atlético Madrid was won with minimal difference, because Ronald Araújo took a bet from Antoine Griezmann off the line in stoppage time. Barcelona took full advantage of Real Madrid’s defeat against Villarreal on Saturday. Barcelona’s lead is three points.
Barcelona could not have the suspended Robert Lewandowski, but Memphis Depay still started on the bench. Instead of the usual three-man attack, Xavi opted for a vanguard with Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembélé, although an attacking role was reserved for Gavi from midfield. That also appeared prior to the 0-1. Inside the penalty area, Gavi received the ball from Pedri, fended off Reinildo Mandava and enabled Dembélé to open the scoring.
Atlético complained about a possible foul by Gavi on Mandava, but the goal was approved. The goal followed a few half chances from Barcelona and was therefore somewhat up in the air. After the 0-1, however, Atlético took the upper hand. Especially in the last fifteen minutes of the first half, Barcelona hardly got rid of its own half. The most dangerous attempts were made by José María Giménez, who headed wide from a free position, and by Antoine Griezmann, who saw his former teammate Marc-André ter Stegen make a good save.
2nd half
In minute 58 Frenkie de Jong was replaced by Franck Kessié and the Dutchman didn’t seem too happy about that. His teammates had no problem holding on to the lead. Although Atlético put a lot of struggle into the game, they hardly created any serious chances for the equalizer for a long time. On behalf of Barcelona, Dembélé shot into the side net. After which a goal from Ferran Torres was also rejected for offside.
Both teams finished the game with ten men. Stefan Savic and Torres got into trouble and both had to leave the field. In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Griezmann had another huge chance to hurt his old club. His bet from the five-meter line was taken off the line by Araújo. After the defeat, Atlético is fourteen points behind Barcelona and seems to be definitively eliminated in the title race.
