{"id":13980,"date":"2026-04-05T12:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T12:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/13980\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T12:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T12:27:10","slug":"atletico-madrid-1-2-fc-barcelona-seven-points-clear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/13980\/","title":{"rendered":"Atl\u00e9tico Madrid 1\u20132 FC Barcelona: Seven points clear"},"content":{"rendered":"

FC Barcelona have moved an enormous seven points clear<\/a> at the top of La Liga after defeating Atl\u00e9tico Madrid 2\u20131 on Saturday night, just hours after second-placed Real Madrid lost by the same scoreline in Mallorca.<\/p>\n

With only eight games remaining, the Catalans are now closer than ever to the league title. At the same time, the win comes as a huge boost ahead of the second and third instalments of the \u2018trilogy\u2019 of games against Atl\u00e9tico Madrid, this time in the Champions League.<\/p>\n

And the match was another comeback to add to Hansi Flick\u2019s growing collection. The red-and-whites struck first, but Bar\u00e7a needed just three minutes to respond immediately from the boot of Marcus Rashford.<\/p>\n

Playing the whole second half with just ten men following Nico Gonz\u00e1lez\u2019s red card, Atl\u00e9tico defended long and hard and very nearly salvaged a point.<\/p>\n

But Bar\u00e7a\u2019s constant pressure was finally rewarded when, with just three minutes of regulation time to play, substitute Robert Lewandowski chested in the winner.<\/p>\n

Goals at either end<\/p>\n

There was a bit of everything in the first half as both teams pushed for an early goal, with both Lamine Yamal and Antoine Griezmann missing excellent chances. Bar\u00e7a started the stronger of the two sides, but Atl\u00e9tico gradually worked their way into the game and took the lead on 39 minutes when former blaugrana Cl\u00e9ment Lenglet played a superb through ball to Giuliano Simeone.<\/p>\n

The coach\u2019s son did the rest, and Bar\u00e7a were playing catch-up. But only briefly.<\/p>\n

A wonderful setup from Dani Olmo. A fine finish from Rashford. And it was all square again.<\/p>\n

Up against ten men<\/p>\n

Before the break, Bar\u00e7a were handed a further boost when Nico Gonz\u00e1lez was sent off for a last-man challenge on Yamal.<\/p>\n

Early in the second half, Bar\u00e7a were close to being reduced to ten men themselves when Gerard Mart\u00edn was initially shown a red card for a challenge on Thiago Almada. A VAR review determined that the tackle had looked worse in real time than it actually was, and the card was downgraded to yellow, allowing Mart\u00edn to continue.<\/p>\n

Two players who did not continue, however, were Ronald Ara\u00fajo and Marc Bernal, both forced off through injury. Let\u2019s hope neither issue proves serious.<\/p>\n

\"_MGA2996\"<\/p>\n

One-way traffic<\/p>\n

Bar\u00e7a made the most of their numerical advantage, and the second half became a monologue of blaugrana possession against a side clearly content to defend the point on offer. Few teams are better at protecting a result than Diego Simeone\u2019s Atl\u00e9tico.<\/p>\n

Ferran Torres thought he had scored not once but twice, but on both occasions Atl\u00e9tico goalkeeper Juan Musso produced outstanding saves to keep the score level. Otherwise, it was largely a case of Bar\u00e7a probing around the Atl\u00e9tico area, struggling to break down a well-organised defence.<\/p>\n

Lewy at last<\/p>\n

Bar\u00e7a needed something different to find a winner. And who better to send on as a solution than Lewandowski? Time and again, the Pole has come to the team\u2019s late rescue, and here he did so again.<\/p>\n

Moments after coming on, Jo\u00e3o Cancelo\u2019s shot was saved by Musso, only for the rebound to ricochet in off Lewandowski\u2019s chest.<\/p>\n

Cancelo\u2019s role in the goal deserves credit. His driving run down the right, and the way he skipped past Nahuel Molina to get into place for his shot… Pure magic.<\/p>\n

As for Lewandowski. Some might call it fortune. But we know it was anything but. His uncanny knack for always being in the right place at the right time comes down to far more than luck. It’s instinct.<\/p>\n

And it’s moved Bar\u00e7a closer than ever to retaining their Liga title. More of the same on Wednesday would be nice!<\/p>\n

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Chevron SVG pointing right\n <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FC Barcelona have moved an enormous seven points clear at the top of La Liga after defeating Atl\u00e9tico…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8,9,9105,7],"class_list":{"0":"post-13980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-text","11":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116352099450654524","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}