Although it wasn’t pretty, and there were long periods where FC Barcelona looked like they were looking for a hiding, Hansi Flick’s side picked up a gritty 2-1 win against Atletico Madrid with a result that helped them stay atop the league table.
A ruthless brace from Fermin Lopez and a masterclass from Pedri saw Barcelona overturn the early deficit and break Diego Simeone’s seven-match winning streak in La Liga. They are now three points clear at the top of the table (33 points) ahead of the November international break, but there were plenty of concerning signs for the Catalan giants.
Defensive issues early on but Fermin Lopez comes to the rescue
Flick started young right-back Brian Farinas in a backline missing Jules Kounde and Xavi Espart. The experiment didn’t work as Simeone’s men broke them down within 10 minutes.
Barcelona failed to deal with a simple transition in the 10th minute as Julian Alvarez ran into space and found Giuliano Simeone who tapped into the open net to give the visitors the lead. For the next thirty minutes, Barcelona looked very ragged and struggled to play the ball with ease. However, Alvarez missed a great chance in the 27th minute against Joan Garcia.
But then in the 45th minute, Fermin Lopez came to the rescue. The 23-year-old was quickest to react to a loose ball in the Atletico penalty area and lashed the ball past Jan Oblak to equalise 1-1.
This gave Flick the chance to change things at half time. He replaced the overwhelmed Farinas with Frenkie de Jong. Andreas Christensen and Eric García were also brought on later in the game to help them through the second half.
Fermin is the hero but Pedri is the maestro
Although captain Raphinha was well contained by Marc Pubill and David Hancko, only getting one shot off in the whole game, Fermin stepped up and became the hero for Barcelona. He ran into space inside the box in the 66th minute. He received the ball from the right and slotted the ball past Oblak to give him a brace. He only had three shots throughout the game.
However, Pedri was the reason why Barcelona managed to get out of trouble. He played the full 90 minutes without Rodri and performed a masterclass with 19-year-old Marc Bernal. Despite Atletico trying to make the last 20 minutes a frantic game, with late bookings for Marcos Llorente and Pubill, Pedri made sure Barcelona didn’t panic. He controlled the game and helped them complete 614 of their 658 passes (93% accuracy) at the Metropolitano.
Lamine Yamal receives a reality check
Although Yamal will be seen as the assist provider for the 66th minute goal from Fermin, after running down the right channel and playing a weighted ball into the box, he didn’t make much of an impact in the full 90 minutes.
If he is to be considered as the main man for this project, and rightful heir to the Ballon d'Or throne, then he needs to play like a main man when Raphinha is well contained. At the moment he is failing to do so.
- He had four shots throughout the game but showed poor end product,
- 49th - He cut inside to the top of the arc but fired wide of the right post.
- 53rd - He burst into the box from the right wing but fired another curler over the bar.
- 84th - Although Atlético were very open, Anthony Gordon ran down the left channel and played a perfect pass across the box. Yamal should have scored but he was too eager and didn’t make clean contact.
Yamal may have had glimpses of danger down the wing but he isn’t the type to take a heavyweight title six-pointer by the scruff of the neck. Flick’s team needed the hunger of Fermíin Lopez and the genius of Pedri to get them over the line.
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