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Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 2-0 in a crucial LaLiga match last night at Camp Nou to virtually ensure their 26th league title. They now have 73 points from 31 matches and stretched their lead over 2nd placed Atletico to 11 points.
Atletico Madrid remained at 62 points with 31 matches and should be vying with Real Madrid for the 2nd place in the league table. Both Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez found the net yesterday for Barca. It took Barcelona 85 minutes to break the deadlock, as Suarez opened the scoring for them. Messi increased the deficit within a minute to put the matter beyond any doubt.
Atletico played more than 60 minutes with 10 men, as striker Diego Costa was sent off in the 28th minute because of reckless behaviour. Barca enjoyed more than 60% ball-possession, and also had more shots on goal. We would now take a look at the 3 takeaways from the match:
#1. An interesting midfield tussle was marred by Costa’s sending off
Atletico started in a 4-4-2 formation, with Antoine Griezmann and Costa as their two forwards, while Barca began in their customary 4-3-3 formation. The match saw a riveting battle between the midfielders of the two sides, and Atletico actually had the better share of exchanges for the first 20 minutes.
Atletico were actually leading Barca in terms of ball-possession and number of passes played after the first 20 minutes of the game. Their midfielders like Koke, Saul Niguez and Thomas Partey made a lot of interceptions in the midfield and kept winning the ball back.
Moreover, Griezmann, who had started the match as a forward, switched to an attacking midfielder’s role gradually, as Atletico adopted a 4-5-1 formation. Barca's midfielders Ivan Rakitic and Arthur Melo also played some probing passes to their forwards.
However, Costa’s red card in the 28th minute changed the whole scenario and pushed Atletico to the backfoot. Griezmann became their lone forward, and Thomas was pushed to the right-back’s role after Arias, their regular right-back, also had to be taken off because of an injury.
Thomas was superb yet again last night but had to sacrifice his preferred position to cater to the team’s interest.
#2. Jan Oblak made a number of quality saves for Atletico
Oblak reaffirmed his status as the best goalkeeper in the LaLiga this season with a string of quality saves. He denied Philippe Coutinho, as the Brazilian tested him with a shot from the edge of the penalty box. He also saved shots from Messi and Suarez in the first half, but his one-handed reflex save which prevented Coutinho from scoring, remained the pick of the lot.
Atletico’s defenders also defended deep and gave adequate support to Oblak, but the latter had to stretch himself considerably in order to keep the Barca forwards at bay for 85 minutes. He made at least 6-7 decent saves to keep Atletico in the match.
Oblak has kept 17 clean sheets for Atletico this season so far in the league and remains one of the better goalkeepers in the world at the moment. Yesterday’s performance was yet another testimony to his undeniable class.
#3. Messi and Suarez score again to win the match for Barca
After their heroics in Barca’s last match against Villarreal, Suarez and Messi found the net yet again to virtually ensure the league-triumph for the Catalan giants. Both of them scored in the injury time against Villarreal to salvage a point for Barca. They repeated the act last night by scoring in the 85th and 86th minute respectively.
Messi and Suarez have now scored 43 and 23 goals respectively in the current season, and their devastating partnership upfront has proved to be too hot to handle. The likes of Godin and Felipe Luis had a special eye on Messi last night and did not give him much leeway in the first half.
However, Felipe Luis was taken off by Diego Simeone, as Alvaro Morata was introduced into the match. The move made sense, as Atletico had to go for a win in order to still be in the title race, but weakened their defence in the process. Saul Niguez played as the de-facto left-back for the rest of the match, and Barca’s striking duo took full advantage of Atletico’s shortcoming in the defence.
