Playing without Robert Lewandowski wasn바카라t so bad for Barcelona after all. (More Football News)
Barcelona overcame the absence of its top striker Robert Lewandowski to win 1-0 at Atlético Madrid and open a three-point lead over rival Real Madrid in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Playing without Robert Lewandowski wasn바카라t so bad for Barcelona after all. (More Football News)
Barcelona overcame the absence of its top striker to win 1-0 at Atlético Madrid and open a three-point lead over rival Real Madrid in the Spanish league on Sunday.
Madrid had lost 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday for its second league loss of the season. Atlético dropped to fifth place, seeing its gap to the lead reach 14 points.
바카라We made a statement,바카라 Barcelona coach Xavi said. 바카라We showed that we are true title candidates.바카라
Ousmane Dembélé scored in the first half and Barcelona held on for its first league win of the year. Dembélé scored with a low shot from close range after a set up by Gavi Páez in the 22nd minute.
바카라We knew it was going to be tough to win here, but after Madrid lost points against Villarreal we had to take advantage of the opportunity,바카라 Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets said. 바카라We have to keep adding points at the top.바카라
Barcelona was without Lewandowski, the league바카라s leading scorer with 13 goals, because the Poland striker began serving a three-game suspension from before the World Cup break. He had faced Espanyol late last year after the suspension was temporarily lifted, but it got reinstated this week to keep him from playing.
Xavi started with Ansu Fati in Lewandowski바카라s position. Fati had come off the bench to score the winning goal in extra time and help Barcelona escape elimination against third-division club Intercity in the Copa del Rey midweek.
바카라It was important to win without Robert, who is a key player for us,바카라 Xavi said.
Forward Antoine Griezmann had a couple of good opportunities to equalize for Atlético but couldn바카라t capitalize on them at the Metropolitano stadium in the Spanish capital. His best came in stoppage time with a shot that Barcelona defender Ronald Araújo cleared just in front of the goal line.
바카라We played well for most of the match,바카라 Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak said. 바카라We created chances but we were a bit unlucky. We could have scored a few times, but the ball just didn바카라t go in.바카라
Atlético defender Stefan Savic and Barcelona forward Ferran Torres were sent off in stoppage time after getting into an altercation with each other.
It was Barcelona바카라s first league win at Atlético since 2019.
Barcelona will now travel to Saudi Arabia to play in the Spanish Super Cup along with Madrid, Real Betis and Valencia. The Catalan club takes on defending Copa del Rey champion Betis on Thursday in one of the semifinals. Madrid and Valencia play in the other semifinal on Wednesday.
SOCIEDAD NEAR THE TOP
Real Sociedad continued its good run by winning 2-0 at Almería to stay in third place.
David Silva and Alexander Sorloth scored a goal each early in the second half to give the Basque Country club its sixth victory in a row in all competitions.
Sociedad is six points behind second-place Madrid and nine behind Barcelona. Almería, which had won four in a row at home in the league, dropped to 14th place.
BETIS STAYS CLOSE
Betis won 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano to end a three-game winless streak in the league and stay four points behind Sociedad in fourth place.
It was the third consecutive league match without a win for Rayo Vallecano, which stayed eighth.
RELIEF FOR SEVILLA
Sevilla defeated Getafe 2-1 at home to end a six-game winless streak in the league to move out of the relegation zone. It hadn바카라t won since a 1-0 victory at Mallorca in October.
Marcos Acuña and Rafa Mir scored for Sevilla, while Borja Mayoral netted for 13th-place Getafe.