Barcelona will head into the ultimate worldwide break of the season in second place within the La Liga desk and have taken a large step in the direction of a spot in subsequent season’s Champions League thanks to an enormous 3-0 victory away to Atlético Madrid on the Cívitas Metropolitano on Sunday evening. Barça needed to undergo for a lot of the evening however had been wonderful defensively and brutally environment friendly on the opposite finish, scoring three objectives with just about their solely three possibilities to earn a monster victory that opens up a nine-point hole over fifth place Atlético and virtually ensures a High 4 end.
FIRST HALF
The primary half-hour of the match had been an almighty battle for Barça, who couldn’t discover a approach to break Atlético’s excessive press and by no means managed to have lengthy spells of possession, and needed to continually accept lengthy balls that didn’t attain the ahead gamers and created wave after wave of Colchonero assaults.
However the dwelling crew couldn’t deliver actual hazard aside from a shot by Pablo Barrios that went simply huge 10 minutes win, and Atlético’s superiority didn’t actually translate into large possibilities or essential saves by Marc-André ter Stegen. Diego Simeone’s facet had been very efficient in getting the ball again, nevertheless, and so they barely had any defending to do inside their very own half within the opening half hour as Barça continued to waste assaults with dangerous passes in midfield.
Finally the Blaugrana started advancing the ball from the again with extra precision as Ilkay Gündogan lastly turned extra concerned, and Fermín López began to time his runs from deep to perfection and create actual hassle with actions in behind the Atlético backline, and Barça had a five-minute spell of actual dominance that lastly compelled the house crew to defend deeper of their territory.
And it was throughout these 5 minutes of fine offense that Barça discovered the opening aim: an prolonged spell of possession down the left wing ended with a cross by Gündogan to seek out Robert Lewandowski contained in the field, and the Pole gave the help to João Félix because the Portuguese ahead guided the ball into the underside nook previous Jan Oblak and as soon as once more scored towards his guardian membership, this time in entrance of the Metropolitano crowd.
Atlético created a monster probability to equalize virtually instantly after going behind, however Álvaro Morata despatched a comparatively straightforward shot to the Madrid sky and wasted the perfect alternative of the half for the house facet.
Barça misplaced their supervisor simply earlier than the break as Xavi Hernández was despatched off after two yellow playing cards for dissent in lower than three minutes, and the whistle got here to finish a tense half the place Barça had been removed from their finest however had been probably the most environment friendly crew within the remaining third.
Atleti had large names on the bench and badly wanted a comeback, so Barça knew they needed to stand up to a ton of stress and play significantly better to safe the win within the second half.
SECOND HALF
Simeone wasted no time in utilizing his largest names on the bench as former Barça strikers Antoine Griezmann and Memphis Depay got here on at halftime in a pair of attacking substitutions to get extra our bodies ahead and put extra stress on the Barça protection.
However earlier than the 2 modifications may have any influence, Barça got a present and doubled their lead: simply 90 seconds into the interval a horrible cross by Rodrigo De Paul discovered Raphinha on their own on the fringe of the field and the Brazilian performed it by way of to Lewandowski, who confirmed off his unimaginable instincts and fired a fantastic strike from a tricky angle that went in off the submit to make the rating 2-0 Barça in beautiful trend.
Atlético had no alternative however to ship everybody ahead searching for an immediate response to get again within the recreation, and Ter Stegen was referred to as into motion 3 times in lower than a minute, together with a unprecedented double save on photographs by Marcos Llorente and Memphis. Simeone sensed his crew was near scoring their first aim and despatched on Ángel Correa and Koke, and the house crew had been in all-out assault mode as we reached the hour mark.
Xavi’s brother and assistant Óscar Hernández made the primary substitution after 60 minutes as Lamine Yamal changed Raphinha, with the teen tasked with serving to Barça hold maintain of the ball and relieve among the rising stress as Atlético continued to chase a comeback.
Yamal understood the task and used his first couple of touches to play sideways and backwards passes to get his teammates up the pitch, and Barça lastly loved some lengthy stretches of possession within the second half to present Ter Stegen and the center-backs a much-needed breather.
And similar to they did late within the first half, a five-minute spell of nice passing led to a Barça aim: an extended ball by Gündogan discovered the run of Jules Kounde on the best wing, and the full-back stored it till he may cross it again to Lewandowski; the Pole, who had began the transfer with a terrific little bit of hold-up play, then performed an ideal cross into the top of Fermín who was on their own in between the center-backs and headed the ball dwelling to triple the Blaugrana lead.
Atleti had been surprised after the third aim and misplaced the entire momentum confirmed within the first 20 minutes of the interval, and Barça had a neater time holding possession as they seemed to complete the sport with a clear sheet. Óscar used all 5 of his substitutions and gave minutes to children like Vitor Roque and Marc Casadó, and the Catalans seemed snug as we reached the ultimate 10 minutes.
The house crew wished to present the group one thing to cheer and tried to as soon as once more step up their stage of stress, however Barça’s protection handled the hazard effectively and managed to maintain the house crew from scoring. Atlético not solely completed the sport and not using a aim but in addition went right down to 10 males on the very finish as Nahuel Molina was proven a straight purple card for a foul on Vitor Roque because the Brazilian was by way of on aim.
The ultimate whistle got here shortly after, and Barça have turn out to be the primary crew to beat Atlético Madrid on the Metropolitano in La Liga this season. It wasn’t precisely fairly, however boy was it satisfying. We noticed the kind of defensive group and combating spirt that received Barça La Liga final season, and as we head into the worldwide break we’re seeing a crew that may win large video games on the street.
If Barça play like this away to PSG in three weeks, we are able to perhaps start to dream…
Atlético: Oblak; Savic, Witsel, Reinildo; Molina, De Paul (Saúl 67’), Barrios, Lino (Griezmann 46’); Llorente (Koke 58’), Morata (Memphis (46’), Riquelme (Correa 58’)
Targets: None
Purple Card: Molina (90+3’)
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsí, Fort (Iñigo 82’); Fermín (Casadó 82’), Gündogan, Roberto (Romeu 77’); Raphinha (Yamal 61’), Lewandowski, Félix (Roque 77’)
Targets: Félix (38’), Lewandowski (47’), Fermín (65’)