Atlético Madrid extended their unbeaten run in H2Hs with Barcelona to five games, compounding Ronald Koeman’s misery as he watched from the stands with a 2-0 victory in La Liga (LL).
Buoyed by their UEFA Champions League win against AC Milan, Atlético Madrid looked the more threatening side in this match, with Thomas Lemar sending a shot wide after some nice linkup play within 10 minutes. The 25-year-old didn’t waste another opportunity to open the scoring, clinically firing past Marc-André ter Stegen in the 24th minute, after João Félix and Luis Suárez teamed up to split the Barcelona defence wide open.
Both teams could have easily added the game’s second goal by the half-hour mark, but Philippe Coutinho sent a half-volley marginally wide, while Suárez uncharacteristically missed the target from inside the box. Just like Lemar, the Uruguayan came good the second time around, as he coolly slotted the ball into the back of the net after being played through by the Frenchman just before HT.
The 'Blaugrana’ saw a lot of the ball before the second goal and continued to after - holding around two-thirds of possession - but struggled to find their way through the ‘Rojiblancos’ defence, as they failed to get a single shot on target before the hour-mark. When that did come, after a great interception and burst forward from 17-year-old Gavi, Jan Oblak closed Coutinho down and saved the Brazilian’s effort well.
Ansu Fati tried to make things happen after his introduction but Atleti continued to stand firm to earn a clean sheet and win that extends their impressive unbeaten run at Wanda Metropolitano to 12 games. Meanwhile, Barcelona hold a miserable record of just one win from their last six games in all competitions and sit ninth in the LL table.
For more follow https://www.suresoccerpredict.com