In some fashion, Barcelona landed a vital victory over Atletico Madrid on the Wanda Metropolitano on Sunday night, with Joao Felix dealing one other blow to his dad or mum membership within the thirty eighth minute, Robert Lewandowski extending his staff’s lead within the forty seventh, and Fermin Lopez setting the ultimate rating within the sixty fifth.
And simply because it appeared Atletico’s night couldn’t have gone worse, proper on the finish, Nahuel Molina earned a straight purple card for an apparent foul on Vitor Roque, which he dedicated intentionally because the final man in defence to forestall a fourth aim for the guests.
However, Barcelona additionally had a purple card proven however to go coach Xavi Hernandez within the forty second minute, for dissent.
The sport
Apparently sufficient, Atletico opened the sport effectively and have been arguably the higher staff for the primary half an hour. They got here actually near breaking the impasse after lower than seven minutes, as Rodrigo de Paul pounced on a free cross from Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen and employed Pablo Barrios, whose effort from simply exterior the field missed the highest nook by a couple of inches. Alvaro Morata additionally had probability within the twenty second minute, however Pau Cubarsi, the Barcelona centre-back who turned 17 two months in the past, prevented him from scoring.
Barcelona took the lead from virtually the primary actual probability that they had. It was Lewandowski who pulled out extensive earlier than squaring it for Felix, and the Atletico loanee had no problem in placing it into the again of the online from round six yards, a lot to the annoyance of the house followers.
Despite the fact that his teammates inspired him to have a good time, Felix didn’t appear too eager, nevertheless it did nothing to calm the gang within the stands of the Wanda Metropolitano.
Morata had one other probability to equalize two minutes earlier than the break, however his volley from simply contained in the field went over the bar.
Lewandowski doubled Barcelona’s lead two minutes after the restart with a unbelievable end, worthy of such a confirmed goalscorer. Atletico got here shut once more within the 53rd minute, nevertheless it was Ter Stegen’s flip to show his class once more as he made a pair of chic saves, first to disclaim Marcos Llorente’s volley, after which a rebound from shut vary from Memphis Depay, former Barcelona ahead who had come on to switch Morata at halftime.
Lewandowski wasted alternative to attain once more, a few minutes earlier than his pin-point cross met the top of Fermin, unmarked at six yards, and the younger midfielder made it 0-3.
Even with all three Barcelona targets counted, the perfect probability of the sport fell to Atletico substitute Saul Niguez 5 minutes from time. Angel Correa’s shot from a decent angle rebounded off a Barcelona defender and located him at six yards, unmarked, with Ter Stegen already crushed, however Niguez, who doesn’t appear in a position to get a lot proper this season, smashed it significantly extensive.
Barcelona dominated the ball for the bigger half with 60% of possession, and although Atletico took extra photographs (13-9), the Catalans have been extra correct (3-5 photographs heading in the right direction). However in all probability essentially the most fascinating piece of stats from this recreation was the truth that the Atletico attackers have been caught offside eight occasions, and their Barcelona counterparts not even as soon as.
All in all, Barcelona deserved their victory, although the scoreline might’ve maybe been slightly kinder to Atletico Madrid.
The unbelievable La Masia
The well-known academy at Barcelona has been producing stars of the sport for a really very long time, and this recreation was one other instance of tremendous teenage gamers schooled there shining in large video games.
With the likes of Marcos Alonso and Andreas Christensen to select from, it was a little bit of a shock to see Xavi title Cubarsi and Hector Fort, each 17, in his beginning again line, notably contemplating the expertise of Alvaro Morata to deal with. Nonetheless, each children carried out admirably, by no means searching of their depth, similar to Fermin (20).
There’s actually no want to talk of Lamine Yamal in that facet; the youngest of the lot at 16, and valued at €60 million by Transfermarkt, the winger has seven targets and 6 assists in 39 appearances for Xavi’s aspect this season.
Barcelona could also be in monetary turmoil, however so long as they maintain producing this type of expertise, they’ll at all times be contending for the largest trophies on the market.
Robert Lewandowski
At a really totally different stage of his profession, Lewandowski remains to be probably the greatest attacking gamers on the planet on the age of 35. He was merely an excessive amount of for the likes of Stefan Savic and Axel Witsel to cope with, and the aim and two assists from this recreation have taken his numbers to twenty and 9, in 39 matches throughout all competitions for Barcelona.
Including a helpful quantity of expertise to Xavi’s aspect, together with Ter Stegen and Ilkay Gundogan, the Poland captain is a mannequin skilled, an ideal participant to be setting examples for the children coming via the academy ranks, although he himself clearly isn’t its product.
The aftermath
This triumph has propelled Barcelona to second place within the La Liga standings, making the most of Girona shedding to Getafe yesterday to overhaul the shock staff of the season and keep an opportunity, albeit a slim one, of profitable the title on the finish.
In the intervening time, Actual Madrid prepared the ground with 72 factors. Barcelona have 64, and Girona 62, adopted by Athletic Bilbao on 56. Atletico have now fallen out of the highest 4, sitting fifth with 55 factors.
Trying forward, Diego Simeone’s aspect have a doubtlessly difficult journey to Villarreal to cope with, earlier than taking over Borussia Dortmund within the first leg of their conflict within the Champions League quarterfinals. For Barcelona, it’s Paris Saint-Germain on the similar stage of the identical competitors, however earlier than that, they need to be certain that they don’t slip up at residence towards Las Palmas.
