Madrid, April 5: Barcelona came from behind away from home to beat 10-man Atletico Madrid 2-1 and take a big step toward winning La Liga after Real Madrid lost at Mallorca.
It was the first of three matches between the teams in 10 days. Barcelona and Atletico will meet twice more in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. They also met in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey in February and March when Atletico advanced to the final 4-3 on aggregate. The Spanish rivals will face each other five times in less than two months.
“We are happy with the victory,” Barcelona’s Dani Olmo said. “We hadn’t forgotten the last Copa match here … we wanted to win and get the three points, which were very important.” Robert Lewandowski scored the decider in the 87th minute with his shoulder from a parried save by the Atletico goalkeeper.
Barcelona, which has won eight of its last nine games in all competitions, has a seven-point lead over Madrid, which lost at Mallorca 2-1 earlier.
Atletico, 19 points off the lead in fourth place, opened the scoring at Metropolitano Stadium through Giuliano Simeone in the 39th. Marcus Rashford equalized in the 42nd, and Atletico went a man down in first-half stoppage time when Nico Gonzalez was sent off for a second yellow card.
“We played a good game,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said.
“We have to focus on the Champions League game now.” The winning goal was almost by accident. Joao Cancelo made a nice run through the left side of the area with a couple of cutback moves to get past defenders but his shot was parried by keeper Juan Muso and rebounded in off Lewandowski’s shoulder.
Barcelona has 301 official goals in 107 matches under coach Hansi Flick.
Atletico has lost three in a row in all tournaments and stayed one point behind third-placed Villarreal, which visits Girona on Monday.
Barcelona defender Gerard Martin was sent off in the second half but the decision was overturned by video review.
Madrid’s loss
Real Madrid dropped further behind Barcelona after conceding in stoppage time.
Host Mallorca opened the scoring thanks to Manu Morlanes in the 42nd minute. Madrid equalized in the 88th through Eder Militao, who was back after an injury layoff of nearly four months.
The winner came from Vedat Muriqi one minute into added time.
Mallorca has risen out of the relegation zone after its second win in three league matches. It moved to 17th place, two points clear of the bottom three.
Madrid suffered its third defeat in its last six league matches. The club has five league losses all season.
Also, Real Sociedad beat Levante 2-0 at home, and Real Betis drew 0-0 with Espanyol, which has yet to win in 13 games this year. In the end, it felt like one of those nights where momentum quietly shifted, yet decisively so.
FC Barcelona, riding on belief and timing, showed once again why title races are often won not just by flair but by resilience in difficult moments. For Atlético Madrid, the fight was there, the spirit unquestionable, but lapses and discipline proved costly. (AP)
