Barcelona move top of La Liga with narrow win over Atletico Madrid
La Liga
Atletico Madrid 0-1 FC Barcelona
Barcelona know they will have to win big matches to secure the La Liga title in 2022/23, and they have taken a huge step in the right direction with a 1-0 victory away to Atletico Madrid this evening.
In what ended up being a rather ill-tempered affair with two red cards shown, Ousmane Dembele stood up to be counted and netted the decisive goal inside the opening half hour.
For Atleti it was a rather unusual evening where they had a lot of attacking chances, with the hosts having 20 shots in total.
However, as is becoming worryingly common for the team, just five of them were on target.
Diego Simeone is still yet to full decide on his strongest XI and the Joao Felix conundrum continues to be a problem.
The Argentine coach doesn’t really trust him as a forward in his preferred 4-4-2 system, but Los Colchoneros can’t recruit a replacement until a team takes the Portuguese star and his significant salary on in the form of a loan deal.
As such, Atleti’s team selections continue to lack balance and we saw that in evidence throughout the visit of Los Cules.
One of the challenges Xavi had in 2022/23 was getting his team to a position where they could challenge Real Madrid, even if the expectation isn’t that they will topple their fierce rivals this soon.
Tonight’s victory was the sign of a team that doesn’t yet have the requisite quality to dominate European football, but there is a lot of effort there within the group.
Dembele personifies that with the Frenchman having rescued his Barcelona career from the gutter in the space of a year, even earning a starting spot in France’s World Cup campaign.
He made the difference in the 22nd minute, scoring the only goal of the match with a well-placed finish.
The Frenchman eventually received the ball on the right side of the penalty area after a collection of probing passes from Barcelona.
He ran onto his pass and was able to strike the ball first-time and it skimmed into the bottom corner.
It was a goal that had been coming, with Pedri running the match to that point, and it was little surprise his weaving run created the goal.
Marcos Llorente would spurn two opportunities before the break, whilst Pedri would fail to find the target with a strike from distance.
In the second-half, Los Rojiblancos tried to exert pressure on their opponents, but the killer instinct just wasn’t there.
It says a lot for Atleti that their starting forward pairing tonight was a player, in Griezmann, whose best football in 2022 has come as a holding midfielder and Joao Felix, whom the coach doesn’t value.
So few shots on target spoke to this and the match ended on a rather chaotic note.
An incident occurred off the ball in the first minute of injury-time, and the sparks flew immediately.
Stefan Savic began grappling with Ferran Torres, but then appeared to grab him round the neck and push him.
This was enough for the official to show the Montenegrin international a red card, only for Torres to be given the same punishment mere seconds later for his part in the scuffle.
Atleti used that incident to build some momentum and the crowd urged them forward. It almost paid off in the form of a goal, yet Griezmann’s volley was cleared off the line by the impressive Ronald Araujo.
The result moves Barcelona three points clear at the top of the table, following Real Madrid’s defeat on Saturday to Villarreal.
