La Liga: FC Barcelona wins against Atlético Madrid and defends their lead

Hansi Flick and FC Barcelona maintained their lead in the Spanish league thanks to an important success. Barça came from behind to win 2-1 in the difficult top duel at Atlético Madrid and stayed ahead of their big rivals Real Madrid in the table. In the table, Barcelona (33 points) is still three points ahead of Real, who had already fulfilled their obligation with a 3-0 win at FC Valencia the day before. Atlético (28) follows right behind in third place.

Coach Diego Simeone rebuilt after the defeat against FC Bayern Munich in the Champions League and brought in Koke and Kang-In Lee in the offensive. Barcelona were without Rodri, who is injured in his thigh. Instead, Flick put Marc Bernal on.

Early on, the game delivered what the constellation promised: Marc Pubill (6th minute) headed onto the crossbar for Madrid, and just a minute later Barça professional Pedri followed suit with a powerful shot. Then the visitors from Barcelona fell behind thanks to a goal from Giuliano Simeone in the 10th minute. The goal was set up by Julián Álvarez, who really wanted to move to Barcelona in the summer. Barça remained vulnerable defensively, Dávid Hančko (22nd) and Álvarez (27th) had further chances. Fermín López (45th) equalized after a good start from Pedri.

Only a few minutes of action for Adeyemi

After the break, Barça showed more control and Fermín struck again. After a nice pass from the eye-catching Lamine Yamal, he shot past Jan Oblak to take the lead (66th). After that, Barcelona managed the game. The German international Karim Adeyemi, who was not called up by national coach Jürgen Klopp for the upcoming international matches in the Nations League, only came into the game for Barça in the 86th minute.