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Barcelona arrives at the last international break of the season in second position in the the league table and have taken a giant step towards a place in next season’s Champions League thanks to a great 3-0 victory against Atlético de Madrid in the Metropolitan Cívitas Sunday night. Barça struggled for most of the night, but were excellent defensively and brutally efficient at the other end, scoring three goals in virtually their only three chances to claim a monster victory that opens up a nine-point gap over fifth place. , Atlético, and practically guarantees a top 4 finish.
FIRST HALF
The first 30 minutes of the match were a tremendous struggle for Barça, who could not find a way to break Atlético’s high press and were never able to have long spells of possession, and had to constantly settle for long balls that did not reach the area. advanced players and created wave after wave of Mattress maker attacks.
But the home team could not generate any real danger other than a Pablo Barrios shot that went wide 10 minutes into the victory, and Atlético’s superiority did not translate into great opportunities or crucial saves from Marc-André ter Stegen. However, Diego Simeone’s team was very effective in recovering the ball and barely had to defend inside their own half in the first half hour, while Barça continued to waste attacks with poor passes in the center of the field.
Finally the blaugrana He began to advance the ball from behind with more precision while Ilkay Gündogan finally became more involved, and Fermín López began to time his runs from behind perfectly and create real problems with the movements behind Atlético’s defense, and Barça had five minutes. of real dominance that ultimately forced the home team to defend deeper into their territory.
And it was during those five minutes of good attack that Barça found the first goal: a long possession on the left wing ended with a pass from Gündogan that found Robert Lewandowski inside the area, and the Pole gave the assist to João Félix as The Portuguese striker guided the ball into the bottom corner, beat Jan Oblak and scored again against his parent club, this time in front of the Metropolitan crew.
Atlético created a monstrous chance to equalize almost immediately after falling behind, but Álvaro Morata sent a relatively easy shot into the Madrid sky and wasted the home team’s best chance of the half.
Barça lost its coach just before half-time due to the expulsion of Xavi Hernández after two yellow cards for disagreement in less than three minutes, and the whistle ended a tense half in which Barça had been far from its best level but it was the more efficient equipment. the last third.
Atleti had big names on the bench and desperately needed a comeback, so Barça knew they had to withstand a lot of pressure and play much better to secure victory in the second half.
SECOND HALF
Simeone wasted no time using his biggest names on the bench as former Barça forwards Antoine Griezmann and Memphis Depay came on at half-time in a couple of attacking substitutions to put more bodies forward and put more pressure on the Barça defense .
But before the two changes had any effect, Barça received a gift and doubled their advantage: just 90 seconds after the break, a terrible pass from Rodrigo De Paul found Raphinha alone on the edge of the area and the Brazilian managed to score for Lewandowski, who showed off his incredible instinct and fired a beautiful shot from very far away that hit the post and made it 2-0 for Barça in spectacular fashion.
Atlético had no choice but to send everyone forward looking for an immediate response to get back into the game, and Ter Stegen intervened three times in less than a minute, including an extraordinary double save on shots from Marcos Llorente and Memphis. Simeone sensed that his team was close to scoring the first goal and brought on Ángel Correa and Koke, and the locals went on the attack when the hour was up.
Xavi’s brother and assistant Óscar Hernández made the first change in the 60th minute when Lamine Yamal replaced Raphinha, and the youngster was tasked with helping Barça keep the ball and relieving some of the mounting pressure as Atlético continued looking for the comeback.
Yamal understood the task and used his first touches to make lateral and backward passes to get his teammates up the field, and Barça finally enjoyed some long stretches of possession in the second half to give Ter Stegen and the centre-backs a great opportunity. . he needed a break.
And, just as happened at the end of the first half, five minutes of great passing led to Barça’s goal: a long ball from Gündogan found the run of Jules Kounde on the right wing, and the winger kept it until he could return it to Lewandowski; The Pole, who had started the play with a great holding game, then crossed perfectly to the head of Fermín, who was alone among the centre-backs, and headed the ball to triple the goal. blaugrana lead.
Atleti were stunned after the third goal and lost all the momentum shown in the first 20 minutes of the period, and Barça found it easier to maintain possession as they looked to finish the match with a clean sheet. Óscar used his five substitutions and gave minutes to youngsters like Vitor Roque and Marc Casadó, and the Catalans looked comfortable as we reached the final 10 minutes.
The home team wanted to give something to cheer up the fans and tried to increase the pressure again, but the Barça defense knew how to deal with the danger well and managed to prevent the home team from scoring. Atlético not only finished the match without a goal, but were also left with 10 men at the end when Nahuel Molina was shown a straight red card for a foul on Vitor Roque when the Brazilian was in goal.
Shortly after the final whistle came and Barça became the first team to beat Atlético de Madrid in the final. Metropolitan in the league this season. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was satisfying. We saw the type of defensive organization and fighting spirit that Barça won the league last season, and as we approach the international break, we see a team that can win big games away from home.
If Barça plays like this against PSG in three weeks, maybe we can start dreaming…
Athletic: Oblak; Savic, Witsel, Reinildo; Molina, De Paul (Saúl 67′), Barrios, Lino (Griezmann 46′); Llorente (Koke 58′), Morata (Memphis (46′), Riquelme (Correa 58′)
Goals: None
Red card: Molina (90+3′)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Koundé, Araujo, Cubarsí, Fuerte (Iñigo 82′); Fermín (Casadó 82′), Gündogan, Roberto (Romeu 77′); Raphinha (Yamal 61′), Lewandowski, Félix (Roque 77′)
Goals: Félix (38′), Lewandowski (47′), Fermín (65′)