FC Barcelona restored their 11-point lead at top of LaLiga after defeating Atletico Madrid 1-0 at the Camp Nou on Sunday evening.
LaLiga
Teams: Barcelona 1-0 Atletico Madrid
Date: 23 April 2023
Venue: Camp Nou
Xavi made three changes from the draw with Getafe last week, as Frenkie De Jong, Marcos Alonso and Ferran Torres were recalled, while 15-year-old Lamine Yamal was named on the bench.
Antoine Griezmann nearly opened the scoring inside the first minute against his former side when he rattled the crossbar with a curling effort after Sergio Busquets had lost possession.
The home side struggled to get their regular passing game going in the early stages as the Atletico press did well to suffocate their opponents in the opening 20 minutes.
That continued to be the trend for the most of the first half and when Barcelona did manage to a ball past the defence, Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak was off his line in a flash to thwart any chances.
However, Barcelona got the breakthrough on the stroke of halftime when Raphinha played a fine long pass towards Torres, who calmly slotted into the bottom corner for his fourth league goal of the season.
With Barcelona dominating in the second half after the break, Atletico coach Diego Simeone opted to re-shuffle the pack as Pablo Barrios and Alvaro Morata was introduced just before the hour mark.
The Catalan giants should have doubled their lead in the 72nd minute when Robert Lewandowski got to the byline before picking out Raphinha who was unable to make a proper connection in the six yard area.
Simeone's men upped to the tempo with time running out, with Sergio Reguilon seeing a lot of the ball down the left flank as the visitors pushed for an equaliser.
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