Barcelona 1-0 Atletico Madrid: Barcelona has washed away the bad feeling after two draws in a row by winning the top match against Atlético Madrid. Barcelona, as the leader of Spain, now has an eleven-point lead with eight rounds to go. Frenkie de Jong played 79 minutes on his return.
Barcelona can smell title after great victory over Atlético
Xavi’s team looked impotent offensively against Girona and Getafe. On the way to the clash with the team in form, Atlético drew 0-0 twice in a row. A defeat at Camp Nou against Diego Simeone’s side would mean that some tension would return to the title fight in La Liga. It didn’t get that far. It was Ferran Torres who brought great relief to Barcelona, where the fit De Jong immediately started in the base after having missed four matches. Torres had been preferred to Ansu Fati as a left winger and repaid Xavi’s confidence.
The 23-year-old attacker received the ball from Raphinha just before half-time, twenty meters from Atlético’s goal. Torres put the ball well in front of his right and coolly knocked Jan Oblak with a low shot into the far corner: 1-0.
Prior to that goal, Atlético had come close to scoring a few times. Antoine Griezmann almost scored a great goal against his old club in the first minute. The Frenchman, who is in great shape, had hit the crossbar with a shot with a lot of feeling on that chance and had bumped into Marc-André ter Stegen on a later opportunity.
Pedri’s return
After almost an hour, Simeone tried to increase the pressure on Barcelona by substituting Álvaro Morata. Atlético’s final offensive had not yet started, or Barça almost dealt the final blow through Gavi. The top talent from Andalusia shot wide from close range and thus missed a great chance at 2-0. Eighteen-year-old Gavi was joined in the last half hour by his two-year older buddy Pedri, who is fit again and made his first playing minutes since February 16 as a substitute. Xavi kept fifteen-year-old Lamine Yamal, who could become the youngest debutant in Barcelona history, on the bench.
Barcelona failed to double the margin. Raphinha could blame herself even more than Gavi. The Brazilian missed a huge opportunity with twenty minutes to go. The painful miss remained without major consequences. Atlético failed to beat Ter Stegen again. The German kept a clean sheet for the 23rd time this season in La Liga. If Barcelona does not let the big lead in La Liga slip out of their hands, much of the credit for the Catalans’ first league title since 2019 will go to him. Atlético striker Memphis Depay was missing from the game with his old club due to an injury.
