Barcelona Down Atletico Madrid and Move to Second in LaLiga
The Barcelona team stormed the Metropolitano led by Joao Félix and Robert Lewandowski and is now the immediate pursuer of Real Madrid.
Footballer still of details and moments, still inconsistent, of undeniable talent, Joao Félix unleashed Barcelona's victory at the Metropolitano alongside the indisputable Lewandowski, decisive to keep the LaLiga competition alive, change the game, and tame Atlético de Madrid, powerful at the beginning, vulnerable later, defeated 0-3 and relegated to fifth position.
The first goal was from the Portuguese forward, the second from the Polish striker, and the third from Fermín to assault the second place; already owned by Xavi Hernández's group (expelled in the 42nd minute), winners in each of their five duels against Diego Simeone, nine points ahead of the red and whites and eight behind Real Madrid's leadership. There are 27 left to compete.
The victory at the Metropolitano, where nobody had won in LaLiga since he did it himself on January 8, 2023, emphasizes Barcelona's insistence in a struggle that seems lost, but still has a way to go, with a duel between the two still pending at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. A mission more than complex. Not impossible.
Neither is winning at the Metropolitano. Nobody had done it in this League, with 40 of the 42 points played this season there in Atlético's possession. Even less so as the game started, but Barcelona endured its worst moment at the beginning, reacted with talent and determination, and imposed itself with unusual authority, led by Lewandowski, who participated in each of the three goals. He assisted in two and scored another.
Joao Félix took advantage of the first one. Under the booing (tremendous when he was substituted in the 77th minute or when his name was announced over the loudspeaker), in the null incidence he had at the beginning, like his team in attack, he suddenly unleashed the triumph in the 38th minute. Barcelona's best play, by Gundogan's vision, Lewandowski's maneuver and turn behind Savic, and his combination with the scorer. Overwhelming.
The Portuguese striker was much more subdued in his joy for the goal than in the first leg at Camp Nou. In his previous and future home, as his contract until 2029 reflects, he toned down the gesture, practically non-existent, while each and every one of his teammates enveloped him in a group hug that represented everything that goal meant.
Because, then, Barcelona escaped from a maze. Atlético's pressure, in Simeone's eleven agitation (without Griezmann or Koke, with Riquelme, Llorente, and Morata to press their opponent up front), sent them to a dark alley for more than half an hour, stressed, stalked, and perplexed with an ineffective and stumbling ball recovery.
That's where the red and white team led them, to which the staging belonged. It limited Barcelona's paths. Every connection from its defense forward. Neither Fermín nor Gundogan nor Sergi Roberto, in the middle. Neither Joao Félix nor Lewandowski (one on one so many times against Witsel) nor Raphinha, in the attack. The lines were insurmountable for Barça. Half an hour.
Reduced to practically nothing then, relieved by the lack of precision from Diego Simeone's group and pending how and where to break Atlético, Barcelona did not really cross the midfield with the skill expected from a team of their caliber until the 34th minute. When they did, their threat was evident. Later, conclusive. Before, Lewandowski's cross was headed wide by Raphinha. The first warning.
The game had turned. Already visibly. Atlético's pressure was not so effective. Barcelona did not have so many problems to put the ball into play. The next opportunity was the absolute confirmation, with Fermín's run and left-footed shot that Oblak caught; the prelude a minute before to what happened next, the aforementioned 0-1 by Joao Félix.
The response before halftime was a high volley from Morata. Later, Griezmann and Memphis's incursion for the entire second half. The Frenchman, for Lino. The Dutchman, for the Madrid forward. Another scenario, another plan, other needs... Only a minute and 20 seconds. Rodrigo de Paul did everything wrong in the restart. First, a card. Then, a mistake. An 80-second sequence. The mistake led to Lewandowski's 0-2.
The Argentine's pass, in a comfortable position, in his field, went to Raphinha. A delivery unsuitable for a match of this level. The Brazilian chipped it, the Pole collected it, turned, and connected a shot at the height of the scorer he is. Nothing simple, apparently without options, with Oblak guarding the goal, he crossed it next to the post. Millimetric. A blow.
Atlético still tried, with a shot from Riquelme or a volley from Marcos Llorente, which was superbly opposed by Ter Stegen, with a prodigious save, to keep the 0-2, which grew later, in the 65th minute, when Fermín headed the 0-3 amidst the distress that the red and white team already suffered in its defensive structure. Oblak still prevented the 0-4 on the goal line. The Metropolitano is not invincible. Is LaLiga possible?
