La Liga 18-19: Barcelona 2-0 Atletico Madrid - 3 reasons Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid

In a top of the table clash, Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid in a comprehensive 2-0 victory in the La Liga to go 11 points clear at the top of the table. For the Blaugrana, the goals were scored by Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi.

The match itself was a feisty contest and the first half was pretty competitive up to the 28th-minute mark, when the game-changing moment of the match happened as Diego Costa was sent off for insulting the referee. After that, it was all Barcelona but the first half ended goalless at the Camp Nou.

The second half of the match was thoroughly dominated by Barcelona and they were creating most of the goalscoring opportunities, but they lacked the critical final touch in front of goal. Meanwhile, Atletico had their chances with set pieces as Rodrigo headed an effort over the bar.

Around the 85th minute, Suarez opened the scoring for Barcelona before Messi doubled it a minute after to seal the victory for the home side and in the process, take a huge lead at the top of the La Liga table.

We discuss the three reasons for Barcelona's victory over Atletico Madrid:

#3 Diego Costa's red card

FC Barcelona v Club Atletico de Madrid - La Liga

When the match started, it looked like a pretty even contest as both teams were creating chances and Atletico Madrid looked very dangerous on the counter. Jordi Alba hit the post early on and Costa saw his headed effort go over the crossbar.

Then around the 30th-minute mark, Costa gave away a foul to Barcelona, he wasn't happy with the referee's decision, and went straight up to the ref, let his feelings known, and he was given his marching orders.

It was very unnecessary and unexpected from an experienced striker, who has played many games at the topmost level. After that decision, Atletico had to go in defensive mode as Costa clearly let his coach and teammates down.

#2 Ernesto Valverde's attacking substitution

After Atletico went down to 10 men, Barcelona still had the great task of beating one of the best defences in the world. Barcelona, in the first half, came close a couple of times, but they just weren't able to find that decisive touch to open the scoring.

So, early in the second half, Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde brought on Malcom and sacrificed a midfielder in Arthur. That substitution was brilliant as the Brazilian started causing a lot of problems to the Atletico backline. Malcom was a menace down the right-hand side as his pace caused some serious problems.

He had a shot saved from Jan Oblak as the Brazilian added the pace which was missing from the Barcelona attack. Malcom has clearly found his groove in the Barcelona shirt and with performances like this, he is only making his case stronger for starting over Philippe Coutinho in the Barcelona lineup.

#1 Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez showed their class again

These two have been the best players for Barcelona this season and their quality was on display again at the Camp Nou. Messi has now scored in six consecutive games for Barcelona, while Luis Suarez scored another decisive goal after his equaliser against Villarreal earlier in the week.

The goals were also brilliant as Suarez was found by Alba on the edge of the box, the Uruguayan took a touch and slammed his effort past Oblak into the bottom corner to open the scoring for the home side.

The second goal was a typical Messi finish, after he received the ball on the right wing in acres of space, as the little Argentine drove into the box, put two defenders on the floor and calmly slotted it into the bottom corner.

These two are making a habit of scoring important goals for the Blaugrana and their partnership can be regarded as the best in the world at the moment.

Edited by Tobi Amoo