Atlético affirms itself as leader | Soccer | Sports

There is only one leader, not three or two, and his name is Atlético. At the last minute, the Barça field also ceased to be the usual inaccessible summit for Simeone’s team in their unstoppable career in the League. Cholismo is resurrected every time they sing the requiem for the luck of one lucky Atlético. Barça played to win and ended up losing practically in the last play when the game had been placed in the goal of an accurate Oblak.

Although the Blaugrana put themselves in Champions mode, just as recognizable as when they surfed radiantly from the wave of leadership, always enlarged when facing the most demanding challenges, they gave up in the areas, denied by the opponent and surprised in theirs with a last counterattack, as Simeone always liked. No team dominates the end of the game better than Atlético. Conservatism and waiting rewarded Atlético in the same way that ambition penalized Barcelona.

Lamine was absent, very open on the left, while Raphinha moved to the far right, to attack the team with the fewest goals scored in the League. Surprisingly, there was no place for the fragile Olmo in a team with a lot of tension and so brave in his departure that it required an excellent defensive exercise from Atlético. The blaugranas camped on the opposite court, very dynamic and intense, applied in the pressure and in the circulation of the ball, lacking only the shot to finish off their high volume of play in front of Oblak’s goal. Simeone’s boys did not breathe until after the quarter of an hour, when Balde ate a long ball behind him that Giuliano tried to play for Griezmann.

Barça needs to start the games well so that they finish better after the fiascos experienced against Las Palmas and Leganés. The best Barça version was the one in which the team not only pressed, ran and crossed crosses, as happened against Atlético, but also finished the plays with goals, often from Lewandowski. There was no way to penetrate between the center backs Giménez and Lenglet until Pedri appeared in the area. The man from Tenerife took the ball, progressed diagonally towards the area, leaned on Gavi and fortunately found himself facing Oblak’s goal. Gavi’s poor control ended up being a precise touch for Pedri. The match revolved non-stop around the interior, technically exquisite, physically unfailing, leader of Barça.

The goal calmed the excitement of the Barcelona fans, who allowed themselves a break after half an hour of great wear and tear, and the ball passed to the feet of Atlético, until then very repeat offenders in the offside calls thrown by Iñigo Martínez and Cubarsí. The Basque central defender was especially lucid when he anticipated Julián Álvarez’s shot after a pass from Galán. The Barça concentration was maximum in defense and the deployment was aggressive, fast, with one and two touches, and clean due to the width. The Barça players took a breather at half-time and Fermín did not get a good position to beat Oblak before he broke Giménez, replaced by Witsel.

The change disrupted Atlético’s defensive system. The governor was Pedri. The canary was an omnipresent player in Montjuïc. A loss that caused a one-on-one in the open field between Julián Álvarez and Cubarsí, very well resolved by the Blaugrana, was followed by an assist for Raphinha, which ended up on Oblak’s crossbar. The Blaugrana forgave and Atlético tied on a counterattack finished by De Paul after a bad rejection by Casadó. Neither the score nor the changes altered the script of a match always driven by Barça’s enthusiasm.

Although Atlético defended itself and was able to make it 1-2 with a Barrios shot that Peña took, Lewandoski missed a goal from a pass from Ferran, a shot from Olmo missed the goal by a finger and Oblack reduced Raphinha and Pedri. Montjuïc was waiting for Barça’s goal, because he was insistent, because he was generous and because he was persevering, when in an excellent transition Sorloth scored the 1-2. , knew how to endure and bide his time against an imprecise Barça that can no longer be explained by his goals, but by his generous and also insufficient play to defend the leadership of the League.