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Goals from Neymar and Lionel Messi cancelled out a Fernando Torres goal to hand Barcelona their third win in 3 games at the Vicente Calderon. The Argentine came off the bench to grab victory from behind for the Catalan club in a crucial La Liga clash to keep them ahead of Real Madrid who trounced Espanyol 6-0 earlier in the day thanks to 5 goals and 1 assist from Cristiano Ronaldo.
The biggest surprise of the game perhaps was that Lionel Messi wasn’t in the starting line-up against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, presumably as he did not train with Barcelona after the international break due to the birth of his second son Mateo Messi.
No such surprises for Atletico, although Fernando Torres started ahead of Jackson Martinez up front for the Madrid side. It may seem surprising but the former Chelsea and Liverpool forwards has a distinctively good record against the Spanish giants.
Luis Enrique’s men started the game strongly testing the resolute Atletico backline early on by moving the ball about quickly and in the process creating chances for the likes of Luis Suarez, Neymar and Ivan Rakitic.
The first clear chance fell to Barcelona’s Uruguayan forward who could only smack the ball against the bar from close range as it came to him from a corner but his header was not bound to be the first goal of the game. A few minutes later, Suarez would do well to find Neymar in the box and create an opportunity for the Brazilian to either shoot or play it back to him or Ivan Rakitic on the other side, but Neymar made a mess of the chance.
Barcelona’s Croatian midfielder Rakitic, who has developed quite the knack of making late runs into the box to good effect as seen in the opening goal of the 2014/15 Champions League final against Juventus, did it again but the ball played to him took the player slightly wide and made his shot easier to save.
Between all the Barcelona chances was a through ball played to Fernando Torres who was denied a goal by some good defending and lack of composure as he put his shot high and wide.
It was the second half that would really pick up the pace with the Atletico’s Spanish forward putting one past Ter Stegen just 6 minutes into the second period as he was played through by Tiago and the rejuvenated former Chelsea scored for the home side to put them ahead.
It would take Neymar less than 5 minutes after the opening of scoring to win a freekick and convert it from long range and beat Jan Oblak to put Barcelona back level. In the 60th minute, the proud father of Mateo and Thiago Messi came onto the pitch to try and snatch a win for his side.
He did exactly that just 17 minutes later as he was played in by Luis Suarez and the Argentina captain made no mistake in slotting home a left-footed strike. The celebration was just the icing on top as Leo Messi wheeled away sucking on his thumb to indicate his happiness at the birth of his second son.
A flurry of activity including another near miss from Luis Suarez and a number of chances created for Atletico wrapped up the game as Barcelona maintained their lead at the top of the La Liga after 3 games but will be wary of the growing influence of Real Madrid who have grabbed 2 big wins so far after the opening goalless draw.
Diego Simeone’s side, however, will look to dust themselves off after having suffered their first league defeat of the season as they try and mount yet another title challenge against the likes of the aforementioned two Spanish giants.
