FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid faced each other yesterday at Camp Nou in the first leg of the Champions League quarter finals. It was a quick reunion between the two sides, as they had already met on Saturday evening at the Metropolitano in La Liga.
Barcelona were hoping for the same result as a few days earlier, when they managed to win 1:2 in the final minutes. Playing at home, they believed it would be possible again. There was an early expectation that Diego Simeone would come with a plan focused on the return leg next week. Barça have been very strong at home this season, losing only once in all competitions, back in September against PSG.
This match had already taken place twice before at the highest European level, both times in the same round. On those occasions, it was always the team from Madrid that came out on top. In both 2014 and 2016, they even reached the final, although they lost both times to city rivals Real Madrid.
Enough history. As the teams entered Camp Nou, which is still far from its full capacity, it became clear that the 60,000 fans in attendance were ready. After singing the iconic club anthem “Cant del Barça”, it was time for the match to begin.
There is always a lot of intensity between Catalans and Madrid sides and that was visible from the very first minute again. Within the opening four minutes, Marcus Rashford came close twice to giving Barcelona an early lead.
The game was very open in the opening stages. When Barcelona target Julián Álvarez received the ball on the right, he easily got past the defense. With a great dribble, he found himself in front of Joan García, but the goalkeeper denied Atlético the lead. After ten minutes, both teams could already have scored.
Barcelona then thought they had taken the lead. After another brilliant action from Lamine Yamal, Rashford simply had to tap the ball into an empty net. The crowd erupted, but the referee quickly blew for offside.
It seemed both teams would go into halftime level, but the biggest moment of the first half, and arguably the entire match, was still to come. After a long ball, Giuliano Simeone was sent through on goal. The Argentine was completely clear on goal but was brought down by Pau Cubarsí, the last defender.
Referee István Kovács initially showed a yellow card to the young defender, but after a VAR review, Cubarsí was sent off. Everything had seemed under control for Barcelona, but suddenly they were down to ten men.
As if the red card was not enough, Atlético were awarded a free kick in a perfect position. Julián Álvarez stepped up and brilliantly curled the ball past Joan García to make it 0:1. Just before halftime, the visitors were leading and had a numerical advantage, leaving Diego Simeone delighted.
Barcelona are known for their attacking style, but with ten men, scoring became a much more difficult task. Substitutes Gavi and Fermín López were brought on to try and change that.
The home side continued to attack, and shortly after the break, Rashford came very close to equalizing. However, a great save from a free kick by the Englishman denied Barcelona a deserved goal.
The Lamine Yamal show continued in the second half. With outstanding dribbles, he constantly beat his opponents and created several chances for his teammates, but they were unable to convert, partly due to goalkeeper Juan Musso.
Barcelona also felt unlucky with several refereeing decisions. Koke could have received a second yellow card, and Atlético escaped when a clear handball was not given. Musso passed to Marc Pubill, who handled the ball before taking the goal kick himself. The entire stadium called for a penalty, but the referee did nothing.
Everyone in the stadium was waiting for the equalizer, and it was easy to forget that Barcelona were playing with ten men. However, in the 70th minute, Atlético struck again. After a rare attack, Matteo Ruggeri delivered a cross, and Alexander Sørloth calmly finished to make it 0:2. The entire Camp Nou, except for the 3,000 traveling Madrid fans, fell silent.
Barcelona pushed forward with attempts from Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal. The latter went down several times looking for a penalty, but none was given. The home side failed to score at home for the first time this season.
In the end, the victory went somewhat unexpectedly to Atlético. With little more than two moments of quality, they managed to beat a Barcelona side that dominated possession for most of the match. It was Atlético’s first win at Camp Nou since 2006.
Barcelona now face a very difficult task next week. They must overturn a two goal deficit in the Spanish capital. If they want to keep their hopes alive of winning their first Champions League title since 2015, they will need an outstanding performance.
Diego Simeone will look back on a great, and perhaps unexpected, performance from his team. They can already start dreaming of the semi finals, although in football nothing is ever certain. The story continues next Tuesday evening at the Metropolitano.
