On-loan Joao Felix scored his against his parent club as LaLiga champions FC Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid on Sunday night.
LaLiga
Result: Barcelona 1-0 Atletico Madrid
Date: 03 December 2023
Venue: Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys
Joao Felix was named in the Barcelona starting line-up against his parent club, as he joined Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski in the attack while Alvaro Morata and Antoine Griezmann led the Atletico attack.
The visitors got off to a lively start and were nearly rewarded after five minutes but Ronaldo Araujo got back in time to clear Marcos Llorente's effort off the line after goalkeeper Inaki Pena was beaten.
A lot of the build up to the game was dominated by Felix, so it was no surprise that the Portugal international found the opening goal for the Catalans on 28 minutes with a composed finish over Jan Oblak from a tight angle.
Diego Simeone's charges looked for a way back into the encounter, with Griezmann the chief orchestrator in the attack as he did well to play in Hermoso, who dragged his shot just wide of the mark ten minutes before the break.
Simeone was clearly not happy with the first-half showing and responded with a triple change at the start of the second half, as Angel Correa, Samuel Lino and veteran defender Cesar Azpilicueta were introduced.
Barcelona continued to threaten after the break and were unlucky not to have doubled their lead just before the hour mark when Pedri saw his low strike crash against upright with Oblak well beaten.
With Atletico pushing for a equaliser, Xavi looked to refresh his stall as Raphinha and Joao Felix made way for Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres for the final 20 minutes of the second half.
The visitors did go close to pulling themselves level with nine minutes on the clock when former Barcelona forward Memphis Depay unleashed a powerful free-kick that forced Pena to push onto the woodwork.
However, Xavi's charges were able to see out the latter stages of the second half to secure maximum points and move back to within four points of league leaders Girona, who they face next weekend.
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