All four of Barcelona’s games against Atletico Madrid this season have been memorable in their own way.
The first meeting at Montjuic ended in a comeback win for Los Rojiblancos and served as a wake-up call ahead of the Christmas break – one which ultimately led the team to the stunning run that they are in
The first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal was the second wake-up call for Barcelona that immediate defensive improvements were needed as they faltered from a position of advantage to a 4-4 draw against the run of play.
Ironically, their first win over Diego Simeone’s side came at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano in a comeback performance that saw Barça return from 2-0 down to 4-2 up.
Last night was the final meeting between the two teams this season and Barcelona once again made sure to take home the win, this time with a crucial clean sheet along with it. Most importantly, they sealed a place in the final of the Copa del Rey.
Barça Universal brings you three talking points from Atletico Madrid 0-1 Barcelona (4-5 agg).
Done the hard way
Going to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano and beating Atletico Madrid may well be one of the most difficult results to achieve in Spain. Last night, Barcelona completed that achievement for the second time in less than a month.
Unlike the previous game, the Catalans did not go down early and mount a comeback on this occasion. What did have to do, however, was dig deep for the win.
Barcelona dominated the first half, and deservedly so as they were the better team by quite some margin. Atletico Madrid barely got a shot away while the Catalans rampantly created chance after chance.
Taking the one-goal lead into the second half, Barcelona were the favourites given how they had just outplayed Atleti over 45 minutes.
However, the second period brought a whole different challenge as Los Rojiblancos pushed in attack with high intensity and simply did not allow Barcelona to get a grip of the game.
Hansi Flick’s men defended cohesively to deny Atletico their equaliser and were forced to dig deep to retain possession for short spells in the half and it is clear that the win was more hard-fought than comfortable.
Yet, it is such hard wins at times that boosts the confidence of the dressing room. After all, Barcelona will read more into the result and its consequence than the narrow margin of victory.
Flick’s rotation pays off
Hansi Flick made one major change to his starting lineup that not many saw coming last night, and that was the change that gave Barcelona the winning goal in Madrid.
The German tactician brought Alejandro Balde, Raphinha and Pau Cubarsi all back into the starting XI last night and all three players had their positive moments. What changed the game, however, was his decision to deploy Ferran Torres in place of Robert Lewandowski.
For a combination of tactical and fitness factors, the Polish striker started on the bench and Torres, who has ...
