Barcelona struck a potentially decisive blow in La Liga’s title race with a 4-2 win against Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano.
Diego Simeone’s home team went ahead through Julian Alvarez in the 45th minute — with the Argentina forward banishing memories of his ‘two-touch’ penalty in Atletico’s Champions League round-of-16 exit to Real Madrid in midweek.
Substitute Alexander Sorloth then continued his remarkable scoring record against Barca (more of that later) by turning home a Conor Gallagher pass in the 70th minute for a 2-0 lead. Hansi Flick’s team struck back through Robert Lewandowski in the 72nd minute and a Ferran Torres header six minutes later.
It looked as if Barca would have to settle for a draw before Yamal produced another piece of magic in the second minute of stoppage time and Torres completed the victory in the 98th minute.
Victory takes Barcelona top of La Liga, level on points with Real Madrid but with the head-to-head advantage before the second Clasico of the season in May and a game in hand. Atletico are in third place, four points behind, also having played one more match than the leaders.
Here, Dermot Corrigan and Anantaajith Raghuraman break down the key talking points.
Where does this leave the title race?
There were twists and turns in La Liga’s dramatic three-way title fight over the 90 minutes and more at the Metropolitano — right up until the 92nd minute when Yamal’s deflected shot made Barcelona big favourites to win the league.
When Atletico were 2-0 ahead with less than 20 minutes of the 90 to go, it looked like Simeone’s side were going to climb to second spot and get right into the mix at the top of the table. Then it seemed like we’d get a 2-2 draw, which would have meant Barca stayed a point ahead of Atletico in the table, though with the home side retaining a head-to-head advantage over the Catalans.
But Yamal’s go-ahead goal — followed by Torres’ second of the night even deeper into added time — moved Barca up to 60 points, leaving Atletico on 56. The psychological damage of this loss, on top of their painful Champions League exit midweek, also makes it difficult to see Atletico bouncing back to win this season’s title.
Neighbours Real are also on 60 points, thanks to their stubborn 2-1 victory at Villarreal on Saturday secured through Kylian Mbappe’s clinical double strike and Thibaut Courtois’ goalkeeping excellence.
Barcelona still have a game in hand over both their rivals — with a postponed game against Osasuna still to play at some point over the next couple of months. They also have a big head-to-head advantage over Real from their 4-0 win at the Bernabeu in October.
There is just one more direct meeting between any of the three teams — the Clasico in Barcelona on May 11, when there will be four rounds of the season remaining.
The title is unlikely to be decided before then, but Atletico will need a huge turnaround to get back into it from here.
Dermot Corrigan
Barcelona thrive in chaos
For 65 minutes, this match looked distinctly different from the 4-4 draw Barcelona and Atletico played out in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals last month.
Atletico had simply outplayed Barcelona physically and cut out any opportunities for the visitors to progress the ball through the middle after Pau Cubarsi initiallly played multiple line-breaking passes into Dani Olmo and Pedri.
But as tired legs and minds on one side and desperation on the other took over, the chaos from that earlier meeting returned. Atletico had toyed with Barcelona’s right side on multiple occasions in the first half — including for their first goal — as Kounde pushed higher up the pitch to support Yamal. They did that again in the 70th minute, facilitated by some clever passing from Antoine Griezmann and ending with that Sorloth goal.
Flick and the Barcelona players were frustrated and that was still on show when Inigo Martinez, moving forward towards the box, signalled furiously for better runs to his left. Seeing none, the centre-back whipped a cross into the box that Lewandowski controlled and volleyed home, before Torres’ headed equaliser six minutes later.
In an eight-minute period, the tactics and tension of the game collapsed like a deck of cards, feeding into the kind of chaos Barca have often thrived in. The number of errant passes, heavy touches and rash fouls rose — even the usually reliable players were culpable — as both teams breathlessly looked for a winner.
It felt fitting that the game was decided by a moment of chaos too. Barcelona loaded their players into the box only for Pedri to slide the ball across to Yamal, whose shot from distance took a wicked deflection and floated over Oblak and into the back of the net. Torres made sure of the win with his 98th-minute finish.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Alvarez puts Champions League heartbreak behind him
The opening goal put a smile back on Atletico faces, with the identity of the scorer especially welcome for the home side.
Goalkeeper Jan Oblak’s long ball from the back picked out left-back Reinildo, whose header put Antoine Griezmann in behind Barca’s poorly organised high line.
Griezmann wasted no time in quickly crossing behind the Barca defence. Guiliano Simeone might have shot, but instead unselfishly pulled the ball back to give Alvarez a relatively straightforward finish.
It cannot have been an easy few days for Alvarez, with much of the focus after Atletico’s Champions League elimination on his controversially disallowed ‘two-touch’ penalty in the decisive shoot-out.
Simeone spoke on Saturday about Atletico’s “anger, rage and injustice” given the manner of that exit. Through the opening stages there was still plenty of frustration within the stadium, with the home fans particularly upset with several calls by referee Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxea which went Barca’s way.
Some of that emotion came out in the celebrations after they went 1-0 ahead. It was also neat that Guiliano — who has known Alvarez since they were kids at River Plate almost two decades ago — was the one who provided his friend with such a crucial assist. And it followed Robert Lewandowski grazing the crossbar under a minute earlier, showing the fine margins in this game.
Dermot Corrigan
Sorloth’s incredible record… and a woeful miss
When Simeone decided to withdraw Alvarez on the hour mark, it was no surprise that he sent on Sorloth as the replacement.
Three times now the Norway striker has entered as a substitute for Atletico against Barca this season, and three times he has found the net with crucial goals.
When the teams met in La Liga just before the winter break, Sorloth scored a 95th-minute winner to give Atletico their first La Liga away victory against Barcelona in Simeone’s 14 seasons in charge.
Then, in last month’s Copa del Rey semi-final first leg, Sorloth also came off the bench and fired in a 90th-minute equaliser in a madcap 4-4 draw.
Both those goals came from Atletico getting behind Barca’s high defensive line and crossing for Sorloth to smash in. And lightning struck a third time here, with fellow substitute Gallagher sprung into space behind the defence, and crossing for the hulking centre-forward to finish. Barca complained about a Rodrigo De Paul handball earlier in the move, but the officials allowed the goal to stand.
That takes Sorloth to six goals in eight games against Barcelona — he also found the net in wins against the Catalans for his former sides Real Sociedad and Villarreal.
Unfortunately for Atletico, Sorloth’s magic touch deserted him later in the game. After Barca got it back to 2-2, he was set clear again but poked the ball badly wide from the edge of the area.
Dermot Corrigan
What did Diego Simeone say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What did Hansi Flick say?
We will bring you this after he has spoken at the post-match press conference.
What next for Atletico?
Saturday, March 29: Espanyol (Away), La Liga, 3.15pm GMT, 10.15am ET
What next for Barcelona?
Sunday, March 30: Girona (Home), La Liga, 3.15pm GMT, 10.15am ET
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(Top photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
