Contrary to logic, Atletico Madrid defeated Barcelona 2:1 as an away derby from the 18th round of La Liga and came out on top alone, Sportal.bg reported.
Substitute Alexandre Seurlot scored the winning goal deep into added time. Previously, Pedri had brought the Catalans ahead after half an hour of play, and after the same amount of time Rodrigo de Paul equalized.
This is the third consecutive loss for Barca at “Montjuic” for the championship. In addition, this match goes down in history as the first success of coach Diego Simeone over “Blaugranas” on their own field. Separately, the visitors are already on an amazing streak of 12 consecutive victories in all competitions.
Overall, Barcelona had a strong match, in which four times the team's players went out alone against Jan Oblak, but they were unable to overcome him. In one case, Rafinha hit the post. At the same time, Atletico did not have a single shot until the start of the second half. Then, out of nowhere, De Paul's equalizer came in the 60th minute, but even after that, the hosts dominated. However, carried away by attacks, even in the final seconds, they allowed themselves to be outwitted.
This was the last match for both teams for the year, as they will return to the field on January 4 with matches from the King's Cup. On Sunday, Barcelona could also end up third if the champion Real Madrid wins against Sevilla.
In the absence of the injured Lamine Jamal, Fermin Lopez got a chance to start for Barca. Frenkie de Jong remained on the bench. Coach Hansi Flick was suspended. Julián Álvarez/Antoine Griezmann was Cholo's preferred attacking duo in Atletico's lineup.
The Catalans could have taken the lead in the third minute, but Rafinha failed to intercept Fermin López's cross. The Brazilian had another chance after just two minutes, but his shot was blocked.
"Blaugranas" continued to press and in the 20th minute they requested a penalty for a handball by Marcos Llorente. However, this was not established by VAR. Shortly after, Inigo Martínez surprisingly launched a heavy left-footed shot that Oblak saved.
Rafinha was showering the "Rojiblancos" penalty area with a cross from the right, and in the 25th minute Gavi also failed to make a good save.
Barca's superiority paid off after half an hour of play. Then Pedri easily passed through a bunch of players, took advantage of Gavi's play and shot into the net. On his way to the goal, the ball deflected into Llorente's foot, which further complicated Jan Oblak's goal - 1:0.
Simeone's team did not react much after this goal and accordingly the hosts continued to dominate. Atleti only bothered Inaki Peña at the end of the half, when Julián Álvarez could have intercepted, but was outplayed.
Barcelona missed the chance to double just three minutes after the break, when Fermin found himself alone against Oblak, but he didn't shoot well and the Slovenian cleared.
From a similar situation in the 57th, Rafinha passed the Atletico guard, but the ball bounced off the crossbar. Lewandowski added a second, which met Axel Witsel's head.
And against the backdrop of Barca's pressure, they equalized. In the 60th minute, Casado made a mistake in clearing the ball, placing it directly in the path of De Paul, who hit the target with a precise shot - 1:1.
A new inclusion of Rafinha on the wing in the 66th minute led to a sharp pass right in front of the goal, but it turned out to be unreachable for Lewandowski.
Ten minutes later, the Pole received a pass from Ferran Torres in a position alone against the goalkeeper, but failed to land a decent shot. There was no signal for offside during the attack, but replays showed that Ferran was more likely in one.
A minute later, the capital's players wasted their chance for a second goal. Another mistake by Casado led to Barrios coming into position, but Peña saved.
Atlético had long been playing with a solid number of defenders, but in the 86th minute Rafinha found a way to get away from the goalkeeper alone, but again he couldn't find a way to score a goal. In the 88th minute, Pedri also found himself face to face with Oblak, but the experienced goalkeeper prevailed again.
The match entered the added time of 6 minutes. In them, Atletico's goal was again attacked, which, however, gave the guests the opportunity to launch themselves forward for a counterattack, which was completed by Seurlot with a killer shot for the final 2:1 in favor of the Madrid team.