La Liga: Atletico Madrid stun FC Barcelona
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Atletico Madrid beat FC Barcelona 1-0 in a tense match at the Wanda Metropolitano. Carrasco got the winning goal to take Atletico to 2nd spot in the La Liga table. Despite missing Suarez, Atletico performed wonderfully and didn’t give a sniff to Barcelona. Moreover, Atletico also managed to break their hoodoo against Barca and got the first win against them in La Liga after Simeone became the coach. Meanwhile, Barca had a bad day with most of their players off color including Messi. Furthermore, Pique went off injured causing a huge injury crisis at defense for Barcelona.
First Half
Atletico Madrid started the first half strongly and created many opportunities. Firstly, Saul tested Ter Stegen with a fierce shot from 20 yards out. Marcos Llorente almost got the breakthrough but hit the crossbar after getting a one on one chance against Ter Stegen. Barca tried to get back in the match but Messi could only shoot straight at the goalkeeper after being released by Jordi Alba. Nevertheless, Atletico Madrid finally got the goal they were looking for after Ter Stegen made a school boy error by coming 40 yards out to clear the ball. Carrasco had all the time in the world to get past Ter Stegen and finish into an open net.
Second Half
Koeman brought in Coutinho in the second half to wrestle back the control of the match. This ploy almost worked but Lenglet could only glance his header straight at Oblak. Moreover, Pique went off injured mid way through the second half after getting into a awkward collision. This knocked the wind out of Barca and they couldn’t muster any goal scoring opportunities as Atletico closed out the match.
Simeone downplayed the significance of the win and said, “Football is game by game. Sometimes we have to win and sometimes we have to lose, in the previous games against Barca we had always been close to winning, aside from in the Supercopa. Today we won, that does not change the plan of what is sought. I’m very happy with the team’s effort.”
Also Read: La Liga: Real Madrid fall to a disappointing draw against Villarreal
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