At full time Diego Simeone stood at the side of the pitch at the Camp Nou and waited for his players, congratulating them one by one as they departed. They had taken the lead here and he declared himself “proud” of them, but by the time the full-time whistle went there were only nine of them left following red cards for Filipe Luis and Diego Godín and, for all their effort, they had been defeated. First-half goals from Leo Messi and Luis Suárez overturned Koke’s opener after nine minutes.
“In football you can win or lose. If you have to lose, I would choose to lose like this every time,” Simeone said. His side had led then trailed with 11 men, reacted with ten and refused to give up even with nine. Defeat came, though, and it was costly. Barcelona climbed three points clear of Atlético with a game in hand, seven ahead of Real Madrid. “There’s still a long way to go,” Luis Enrique said, but his Barça team’s lead is a significant one – even for a side that are not playing at their best.
This had been far from easy. Atlético had the lead when Koke guided home Saúl’s early cross. There was silence at the Camp Nou, not just because of the score but because of the sensations too. Tactically, the days of parked buses have been left behind. Instead, Atlético pressed high and it had worked. Momentarily, at least. Sergio Busquets was Atlético’s target, Simone admitted, and he was uncomfortable. Barcelona lost possession frequently, failing to find avenues out, only dead-ends at the end of which stood visiting players, a menacing look in their eyes.
Pressuring high requires energy and organisation and is hard to maintain, though, and bit by bit clarity came. Simeone later judged Atlético’s intensity and predominance to have lasted 26 minutes. For Barcelona, possession increased and, more importantly, so did the pace and precision with which they exercised it. Luis Enrique talked about a “strange”, “difficult” start, but he praised his team’s reaction and spoke of the 20 “excellent” minutes that followed in which his team turned this game around.
The first sign came when José María Giménez blocked Dani Alves’s volley. Suárez and Andrés Iniesta then combined to draw a sharp save from Jan Oblak, the first time either had been seen half an hour in. Next, Neymar slipped the ball left to Jordi Alba. Alba paused and waited, just long enough for Messi to move. Alba saw it, Koke did not. Nor did many inside the stadium, and in a flash Barcelona had equalised. The ball fizzed towards Messi’s foot, then fizzed away again, first time low into the net by the near post. Oblak did not have time to react. It had happened so fast.
Barcelona had been accelerating up to that moment; seven minutes later, they pulled in front. Alves hit a wonderful curling 30-yard pass up the right-hand channel, where Suárez had made the run towards the top corner of the six-yard box.
Few strikers use their body so well, a bumper car relishing the bumps. Suárez let the ball run, slowed down, shifted in front of Giménez and cut him off. The nudge was not enough to put him off balance; rather, it seemed to propel him forward just the right distance and he finished through Oblak’s legs. It was his 31st goal in 32 games.
The game had changed and just before half-time the balance tilted still further, when Filipe Luis’s studs struck Messi’s knee, earning a red card. But if Simeone’s half time change– Jesús Gámez for Gabi – seemed to suggest resistance 10-men Atlético emerged stronger and applied pressure once more. Yannick Carrasco, whose speed and directness was a constant threat, found Antoine Griezmann six yards out but Bravo saved with his foot. Barcelona were grateful to him and to Gerard Piqué for holding the team together.
Atlético refused to fall apart, even though Diego Godín’s challenge on Suárez was as wild as it was unnecessary and drew a second yellow card after 65 minutes, and despite Augusto then getting carried off on a stretcher. Barcelona controlled, but for as long as it remained 2-1 it remained open. And, after Arda Turan and Alves saw shots drift past the right-hand post and Suarez curled over, Atlético had a last chance to stay level at the top of the table. Oblak was sent up and the free-kick was sent in, but it was not to be. Barcelona finally stepped clear.
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