Barcelona achieved an extremely key victory for the defense of the title and won 2:1 as a guest of Atletico Madrid in a heated derby from the 30th round of La Liga and the next meeting between the two teams this season.
The success for Hansi Flick's team came after a complete turnaround, with first Giuliano Simeone putting the "rojiblancos" ahead in the 39th minute. Just three minutes later, however, Marcus Rashford equalized, and substitute Robert Lewandowski brought his team's success with a late goal in the 88th minute against an otherwise valiantly defending Atletico.
It is important to mention that the Catalans played almost the entire second half with a man more after a direct red card for Nicolas Gonzalez at the end of the first half. Almost immediately after the break, the expulsion of Gerard Martin from Barcelona was canceled and replaced with only a yellow card by the head referee Mateo Busquets, and this was the most controversial situation in the match. The bad news for Hansi Flick is the two forced substitutions for Ronald Araujo and Marc Bernal, who suffered injuries.
Thus, the Catalans, with their sixth consecutive victory, are already 7 points ahead of the big rival Real Madrid, who earlier lost to Mallorca, and are making a serious bid to double their title. Statistics show that no team in La Liga has managed to close such a gap with eight rounds remaining. Atletico, on the other hand, suffered another bitter pill after the painful 2:3 loss to Real Madrid in the previous round. A curious decision for Diego Simeone in this match was to leave Julián Álvarez and Ademola Lookman on the bench. Atletico otherwise remains in 4th position after the new loss, continuing its fight for third place with Villarreal. In just a few days - on Wednesday, Atleti and Barça will face each other again, this time in the 1/4 finals of the Champions League, and the first match will be at “Camp Nou“.
The last matches between the two teams were marked by exceptional results and drama. Only a month ago they faced each other in the semi-finals of the King's Cup, where they exchanged a convincing victory – Atletico won with a crushing 4:0 in Madrid, and Barcelona responded with a 3:0 at the “Camp Nou“, which, however, turned out to be insufficient. In the previous match in La Liga, the Catalans triumphed with a 3:1, with Rafinha and Dani Olmo among the scorers.
Diego Simeone had a lot of problems, with Marcos Llorente and Johnny Cardoso suspended, and goalkeeper Jan Oblak, Pablo Barrios, Rodrigo Mendoza and Marc Publius still injured.
So compared to the squad that lost to Real Madrid 2:3 in the previous match, the Argentine coach made a lot of changes. Julián Álvarez sat on the bench, and Thiago Almada was in attack next to Antoine Griezmann. Clement Lenglet and Nauel Molina returned to the starting line-up in defence, with only Robin Le Normand retaining his place, while Nicolas Gonzalez played at left-back. Ademola Lookman was also left on the bench, while in midfield the new names were Alexandre Baena and young Mexican Obed Vargas.
The biggest loss for the Catalans' coach Hansi Flick was the injury to Rafinha, which he suffered during the international break. The German specialist was also unable to use the injured Frenkie de Jong and Andreas Christensen.
Flick made a few curious changes compared to the minimal success over Rayo Vallecano in the previous match. First of all, Barca went without a pure striker, with Robert Lewandowski left on the bench, and the role of false nine was taken by Dani Olmo. Marcus Rashford played on the left instead of Rafinha, and helped Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez in attack. Eric Garcia took the place of Marc Bernal as an inside midfielder next to Pedri. The defense was unchanged, with Ronald Araujo as a right-back, Pau Cubarsi, Gerard Martin and Joao Cancelo on the left.
The first accurate shot of the match came in the 6th minute, when Marcus Rashford shot from a direct free kick, but Juan Musso confidently saved it. Five minutes later, Antoine Griezmann missed the best chance of the match so far, after passing Cubarsi and Araujo in succession, but shot straight into the hands of Joan Garcia. Fermin Lopez also shot, with Musso interfering with the first, and the second being inaccurate. In the 36th minute, the clearest chance for Barca came, when after a double pass between Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo, the young talent went out alone against Musso and crossed it, but unfortunately for him, the ball hit the home side post. This is how it came to the 39th minute, when with a great long pass, former Barça player Clement Lenglet found the involved Giuliano Simeone, who advanced and without hesitation shot past Joan Garcia - 1:0 for Atletico.
The bad news for the Catalans increased after Ronald Araujo was forced off immediately after the goal, and Marc Bernal came in to replace him and took the midfield position, while Eric Garcia returned to right-back. However, Barca reacted very quickly and equalized just three minutes after the goal. A wonderful double pass between Marcus Rashford and Dani Olmo put the Englishman in an excellent position, and his shot went between Musso's legs - 1:1.
In the second half, Nicolas Gonzalez from the home team fouled the advancing Lamine Yamal and received a second yellow and a red card from referee Mateo Busquets. After a review with VAR, the referee decided that the Atletico player should be sent off. In the last situation of the first half, Bernal, who had entered the game, could have scored, but shot into the outside of the net after a cross from a direct free kick.
Both coaches made changes at half-time. Simeone brought on defender Matteo Ruggeri in place of Koke, and Ferran Torres came on in place of Fermin Lopez for Barcelona. The second half began with a rough foul by Gerard Martin against Thiago Almada, for which the defender was immediately sent off by the head referee Busquets. However, after a VAR review, the referee decided that the away player played with the ball first and changed the punishment of the Catalan defender to just a yellow card.
Otherwise, Barcelona's pressure gradually increased, but another forced substitution for the "blaugranas" followed. Marc Bernal, who entered the game in the first half, was injured and was replaced by Jules Kunde. An excellent break by Yamal ended with a missed shot, and in the 67th minute Juan Musso had to save a shot by Ferran Torres. A few minutes later, the Atleti goalkeeper again denied the Barca player and pulled his shot out for a corner.
In the end, Barcelona's strong pressure paid off at the very end of the match. In the 88th minute, Joao Cancelo made a great break and shot. Juan Musso managed to knock out with a last-ditch effort, but right into the body of Lewandowski, who shouldered the ball for the Catalans - 1:2. By the end of the match, Diego Simeone managed to argue with Ferran Torres, for which he was sanctioned. Thus, Barcelona celebrated the key victory.