Atletico Madrid 1-2 Barcelona: Simeone 39; Rashford 42, Lewandowski 87
Barcelona tightened their grip on the La Liga title with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid, after a late improvised intervention from Robert Lewandowski proved decisive in a tense encounter at the Metropolitano.
The visitors arrived in the capital with added incentive after Real Madrid had stumbled earlier in the day, but it was Atletico who struck first. Six minutes before the interval, Giuliano Simeone controlled a lofted delivery before hammering past Joan Garcia to give the hosts the lead.
Barcelona responded quickly, Marcus Rashford combining with Dani Olmo three minutes later and then running through to slip the ball between the legs of Juan Musso.
The contest tilted further in Barcelona’s favour in stoppage time when Nicolas Gonzalez was dismissed for hacking down Lamine Yamal just outside the area. He received a second yellow at first but it was upgraded to a straight red after review, and Atletico were forced to play the entire second half with ten men.
There was more controversy immediately after the restart when Gerard Martin appeared to level the numbers with a dangerous tackle, only for VAR to downgrade his red card to a yellow, much to the frustration of the home side.
Barcelona dominated possession afterwards, with Yamal lively and at the heart of their attacking play as chances began to mount. Atletico proved resolute and Barcelona fluffed a number of chances before Joao Cancelo provided inspiration for the win with three minutes to go. His shot from an acute angle was parried by Musso but Lewandowski, only a metre away from the goalkeeper, creatively reacted quickly to turn in the rebound with his chest.
