Atletico Madrid 1-1 FC Barcelona: 5 takeaways

#1 Ousmane Dembele shuts up his critics. Again.

Dembele's last-gasp equalizer

The Spanish media seems to have some sort of grudge against Dembele. As of late, they have been reporting about his bad attitude, his failure to turn up on time to training and his complacent attitude. In reality, Valverde himself confirmed that Dembele was never late to training.

With the media rumours spreading, there were also rumours of Dembele being sold to Liverpool. Many experts and pundits criticized him for not paying attention to his game. Valverde threw caution to the wind and put in both Dembele and Malcom to salvage a draw.

Dembele's introduction yielded immediate effect with Filipe Luis clearly failing to keep up with the Frenchman's pace. Atleti's ever-strong defence was dragged out of shape due to the pace from the Frenchman and his high tempo of passing. When Messi had the chance he simply played in the free Frenchman who kept his cool before tucking the ball past Oblak.

The defence which did not press hard till that moment swarmed Messi because Dembele had pulled them out of the comfort zone. And now, it is time his critics take a backseat and see this lad unlocking his full potential.