A goal from Alexander Sorloth, in the 96th minute, gave victory to a lucky Atlético de Madrid, the new leader of LaLiga, who was dominated at all times by Barcelona (1-2), but paid dearly for their mistakes against Jan Oblak and gave up their third consecutive defeat at home, something that had not happened since the 1965-66 season.
Barça dominated the game and had the best chances against a conservative Madrid team, which played to tie at 0-0, which could have conceded a couple of goals at 1-0, but was saved by Oblak and in the end found a goal in injury time.
Football was not fair to the Blaugrana, who forgave too much, and rewarded the aim of the Atlético players who had never won in Barcelona with Simeone and added their twelfth consecutive victory.
And Barça had a good game. Flick’s team did well, like against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund, showing that he feels good when he smells blood, when he feels the spotlight on his face and when he has first-class teams in front of him.
And against Atlético de Madrid, he showed it again. Flick put Fermín on the left, Gavi to give support to the midfield and Raphinha on the right.
The motto was to open the field, play wide on the flanks, something in which they had failed in the last few games. Opposite Atlético, a team that arrived as the most fit in the championship, but that was small at the start, leaving all creative responsibility to the locals.
And with that advantage, Barça did not waste it. Under the leadership of an excellent Pedri, the Blaugrana dominated the situation and overwhelmed the colchoneros.
Raphinha’s hyperactivity on the right, the forward pressure and the search for lateral centers for Lewandowski gave no respite to the game and the approaches to Oblak’s goal continued.
In the 5th minute, Raphinha had the first for his team, in an action that Gallagher took in the small area. The game took place in Atlético’s attacking field, which was not able to get the ball played from behind.
In the 21st minute, the Blaugrana claimed a penalty due to Giuliano’s handball and in the next action Oblak had to show off a close shot by Íñigo Martínez.
Barça felt comfortable. He recovered closer and closer to the small area. Gavi, in the 25th, finished wide and in the 30th, Pedri appeared again.
It was in a combination with Gavi that ended up in the net after finishing crosswise for 1-0. Flick’s men were biting the capital’s jugular which, except for some sporadic action by Griezmann between the lines, they were not able to generate.
In fact, their first long possession came in the 41st minute and by then the possession was 70-30 for the locals in a first half dominated by the Barcelona fans without discussion.
As soon as the second half began, due to a mistake by Giménez, Pedri gave Fermín the 2-0 lead, but the ball was left far behind the Andalusian and Oblak was very successful in preventing Barça from scoring in the 48th minute.
Pedri gave another gift in the 57th minute, this time to Raphinha, but his shot hit the crossbar on another great occasion for Barça.
But the cliché that if you forgive in football, you end up paying for it, was demonstrated in the 1-1. In a ride by Julián Álvarez and a backward pass, Casadó cleared it and it became a perfect assist for De Paul who immediately tied the game at the hour mark.
But Barça believed again and picked up the thread of the match against an Atlético that took refuge closer and closer to Oblak and put together a defense of five.
It wasn’t the same. The entry of Dani Olmo gave more air to the local midfield and Raphinha appeared again with two practically consecutive actions that surrounded the Atlético goal, but the goal did not come for the locals.
Even Iñaki Peña, virtually unheard of until then, had to appear to save his team in the 77th minute after a one-on-one with Barrios, in the second approach by Simeone’s men.
In the final ten minutes of the match, Barça gave everything and had very clear chances to tip the balance, but they always found themselves with Oblak.
Olmo, in the 81st minute, finished too cross; Raphinha did not hit the goal against the Colchonero goalkeeper in the 86th minute nor did Pedri in the 88th minute on three great occasions. Football, which is great and miserable in the same proportion sometimes, showed it in the last breath, when Raphinha missed a pass, Atlético set up a counter and Sorloth executed Barça in the 96th minute.
The Blaugrana finish the year in the worst way with five points added in the last seven games and after squandering a clear advantage at the top of the championship, a League that Atlético now dominates.
