Barcelona 3 Atletico Madrid 1
Barcelona are the best team in Spain when fully fit. A lot of people before the game including me fancied Atletico to get something out the game whether it was 1 or 3 points but from the start Barca absolutely dominated Atletico and should have been at least 2 or 3 goals ahead by half time. The returns of Raphinha and Pedri are the real difference makers with both players combining for Barcelona’s equaliser in the first half. Atletico really struggled to sustain possession throughout the 90 minutes but just like every other team Barca face they exploited the high line for Alex Baena’s goal which was initially ruled out for offside, but VAR showed that he was clearly on giving Atletico the lead in the first half.
Raphinha showed why Hansi Flick made him captain. You really can see the difference in this Barcelona team when Raphinha is missing, his determination to make run after run in behind the Atletico defence must have given Diego Simeone nightmares all game with the goal eventually coming thanks to a brilliant through ball from Pedri to Raphinha who expertly took it around Oblak and finished into an empty net to bring Barca level in the first half. Whilst Marcus Rashford has been playing quite well on that left-hand-side you can immediatley see the difference when Raphinha is on that side and Barca looked back to their best throughout most of the match.
Atletico’s attack looked uncharacteristically poor. Throughout most of this season Atletico Madrid’s best attribute has been their attack, especially through Julian Alvarez who most would say has been Atletico’s best player this season so far. So you would imagine that with Barcelona’s defence in near shambles in recent weeks and with Atletico’s attacking prowess they would have had sucess but this wasn’t the case at all, Julian Alvarez was anonymous for 90 minutes only having 1 shot for the whole match. You have to give credit to Barcelona’s defence and midfield for being able to sustain attack after attack and largely limiting Atletico bar a few chances here and there which is inevitable with the way that Hansi Flick’s sides play.
Pedri is the best midfielder in the world. It amazes me that game after game Pedri is able to put in masterclass after masterclass but yet again he was the best player on the pitch in a Barcelona match. I would have loved to see how him and Caicedo would have matched up last week but he was unfortunately injured for that one. It’s hard to say who is more important for this Barca side between Pedri and Raphinha but I think Pedri just edges it with the influence he has in the midfield, the assist for Raphinha’s equaliser perfectly epitomises Pedri as a player playing a delightful ball cutting through Atletico’s defence for Raphinha to slot home.
Can Real Madrid respond against Athletic Club? Real Madrid’s recent La Liga form has been dreadful drawing there last 3 games to Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallencano leaving Xabi Alonso under immense pressure to get Real back on form against an Athletic Club team who lost 4 nil to Barca a couple of weeks ago, you get the feeling that if Real Madrid don’t beat Athletic Club, the title is ultimately Barca’s to lose if they can keep their players fit.