Dancing with out Robert Lewandowski, Catalan giants Barcelona nearly managed to placed on a present at Atletico Madrid, overcoming the absence of its star striker to emerge victorious with a 1-0 scoreline and open a three-point cushion over arch-rival Real Madrid within the Spanish league on Sunday.
Madrid had misplaced 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday for its second league lack of the season. Atletico dropped to fifth place, seeing its hole to the lead attain 14 factors.
“We made a statement,” Barcelona coach Xavi stated. “We confirmed we’re true title candidates.”
Ousmane Dembele scored within the first half and Barcelona held on for its first league win of the yr. Dembele scored with a low shot from shut vary after a setup by Gavi Paez within the twenty second minute.
“We knew it was going to be tough to win here, but after Madrid lost points against Villarreal, we had to take advantage of the opportunity,” Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets stated. “We have to keep adding points at the top.”
Barcelona was with out Lewandowski, the league’s main scorer with 13 objectives as a result of the Poland striker started serving a three-game suspension earlier than the World Cup break. He had confronted Espanyol late final yr after the suspension was quickly lifted, however it bought reinstated this week to maintain him from taking part in.
Xavi began with Ansu Fati in Lewandowski’s place. Fati had come off the bench to attain the profitable purpose in additional time and assist Barcelona escape elimination towards third-division membership Intercity within the Copa del Rey midweek.
“It was important to win without Robert, who is a key player for us,” Xavi stated.
Forward Antoine Griezmann had a few good alternatives to equalize for Atletico however could not capitalize on them on the Metropolitano stadium within the Spanish capital. His finest got here in stoppage time with a shot that Barcelona defender Ronald Araújo cleared simply in entrance of the purpose line.
“We played well for most of the match,” Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak said. “We created possibilities, however we have been a bit unfortunate. We may have scored a number of instances, however the ball simply did not go in.”
Atletico defender Stefan Savic and Barcelona ahead Ferran Torres have been despatched off in stoppage time after stepping into an altercation with one another.
It was Barcelona’s first league win at Atletico since 2019.
Barcelona will now journey to Saudi Arabia to play within the Spanish Super Cup together with Madrid, Real Betis and Valencia. The Catalan membership takes on defending Copa del Rey champion Betis on Thursday in one of many semifinals. Madrid and Valencia play within the different semifinal on Wednesday.
Sociedad close to the highest
Real Sociedad continued its good run by profitable 2-0 at Almería to remain in third place.
David Silva and Alexander Sorloth scored a purpose every early within the second half to provide the Basque Country membership its sixth victory in a row in all competitions.
Sociedad is six factors behind second-place Madrid and 9 behind Barcelona. Almeria, which had gained 4 in a row at residence within the league, dropped to 14th place.
Betis stays shut
Betis gained 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano to finish a three-game winless streak within the league and keep 4 factors behind Sociedad in fourth place.
It was the third consecutive league match with out a win for Rayo Vallecano, which stayed at eighth.
Relief for Sevilla
Sevilla defeated Getafe 2-1 at residence to finish a six-game winless streak within the league to maneuver out of the relegation zone. It hadn’t gained since a 1-0 victory at Mallorca in October.
Marcos Acuna and Rafa Mir scored for Sevilla, whereas Borja Mayoral netted for Thirteenth-place Getafe.
