Match report: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Barcelona
La Liga: “On the night when the Metropolitano filled for the first time since he arrived, becoming the fans’ idol even in their absence, Luis Suárez provided an assist and a goal to beat Barcelona 2-0, writes Sid Lowe from the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.
Luis Suarez speaks ...
“I knew if I was going to score I wasn’t going to celebrate too effusively,” he says. “I have a lot of love for those guys, they were my teammates and they’re going through a tough time.”
More from Pique: Asked what the problem is at Barcelona, he looks thoughful. “It’s not just one problem,” he says. “I think there are several. I think the fans know that. You’ve got to be blind not to see what we’re missing. Despite that, I think we’ll recover. Many of us in the squad have gone through spells like this before. The reaction among the players is very positive and there’s a desire to turn things around.”
He goes on to say there’s not much the players can say or do about the president of the club, the manager or the financial situation at Camp Nou.
Gerard Pique speaks ...
“We have lost to Atletico,” says the Barcelona defender. “We didn’t expect this result and we just have to keep going. We have to rest during the international break and come back again. I think we started OK, I thought we were quite brave in that sense but a couple of breaks and we couldn’t catch up. They scored a couple of goals without doing much else. It’s unusual for us not to score a goal. It’s difficult at the moment, it’s complicated. The truth is we’re suffering. The only thing we can do is keep fighting.”
Full-time: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Barcelona
Peep! Peep! Peeeeeeep! It was a comfrotable win for Atletico Madrid, as many suspected it might be before the game. Playing in front of a full Wanda Metropolitano house for the first time since lockdown, the hosts ran out fairly easy winners thanks to first half goals from Thomas Lemar and Luis Suarez.
90+2 min: We’re deep into injury time and ... it’s all over.
88 min: Barcelona go forward and Sergi Roberto overhits his cross towards the far post. Ronald Araujo tries to connect with the ball to hook it back into play but it’s an exercise in futility.
86 min: Barcelona substitution: Clement Lenglet on for Sergino Dest. Jordi Alba, who was about to come on earlier only to be sent back to his seat with a funk on, won’t like that.
86 min: Memphis is fouled by Thomas Lemar, earning Barcelona a free-kick in a dangerous position about seven yards outside the Atletico penalty area, a little right of centre. He curls a shot over the bar and that, one suspects, is that.
82 min: Atletico Madrid double-substitution: Renan Lodi and Felipe Anderson on for Yannick Carasco and Mario Hermoso. On the touchliner, Diego Simeone is going absolutely bonkers, gesticulating to all corners as he exhorts the crowd to make some noise, support their team and see them home.
80 min: I missed the foul that led to that free-kick but I can reveal that Koke was the perpetrator and earned himself a booking for it.
78 min: Barcelona win a free-kick for something or other about 30 yards from the Atleti goal, almost dead centre. Memphis stands the ball up in the penalty area, Pique flicks it on and the ball drifts wide. A move from the training ground, which should have stayed there until they’d practiced it a bit more.
75 min: Barcelona double-substitution: Luuk de Jong and Ricard Puig on for Oscar Mingueza and Pablo Gavira. Ricard Puig? Who the hangdammit is he?
74 min: Attacking on the break, Antoine Griezmann charges forward with Angel Correa up in support. Griezmann looks up, see his fellow substitute and tries to pick him out. His pass inside is ridiculously over-hit and a great goal-scoring opportunity goes to waste.
72 min: Atletico Madrid double-substitution: Angel Correra and Antoine Griezmann on for Luis Suarez and Joao Felix. Some heavy artillery coming off the bench, there.
71 min: Fati has been in the thick of the action since coming on. He tries his luck with a low drive from distance but fires straight at Oblak.
70 min: Fati assumes resposibility for the free-kick but his effort is dreadful. He fires the ball high over the cross-bar.
69 min: Barcelona win a free-kick on just outside the Atletico penalty area, a little right of centre, for a Mario Hermosa foul on Ansu Fati.
68 min: Kieran Trippier is penalised for dangerous play after going into a challenge with Ansu Fati with his a high boot.
66 min: Joao Felix and Luis Suarez carve open Barcelona on the break again but this time Felix shoots straight at Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
64 min: Barcelona substitution: Ansu Fati on for Philippe Coutinho, who looks displeased as he takes his seat on the bench. I suspect he’s more upset with himself for missing a couple of good chances than at being taken off.
Updated
62 min: A Sergino Dest cross towards the far post is plucked authoritatively from the air by Jan Oblak.
60 min: Barcelona attack down the right with Gaviro on the ball. He feeds it inside to Coutinho, who shoots only to see his poor effort well saved by the advancing Jan Oblak.
58 min: It’s all a bit too easy for Atletico, who are soaking up what passes for Barcelona’s pressure and waiting patiently to hit them on the break. I think we can expect to see Antoine Griezmann coming on against his parent club in the next frew minutes - he’s busy warming up on the touchline. For Barcelona, Ansu Fati is also getting his stretch on.
55 min: Yannick Carasco goes down in the Barcelona penalty area, falling over the leg of Araujo at the byline. He doesn’t appeal for a penalty where others might have. He’d bamboozled the Barca defender with some neat footwork.
54 min: Atletico corner, after Llorente’s low cross is intercepted by Ronald Araujo. Thomas Lemar sends the ball into the mixer, where Marc-Andre ter Stegen punches clear Superman style.
52 min: Coutinho and Memphis link up well for Barcelona but the Brazilian’s shot from distance is blocked 0outside the Atletico penalty area.
51 min: Barcelona corner. Gimenez heads the inswinger away.
50 min: It’s nip and tuck in the early stages of this second half, with Atletico sitting on their two-goal lead.
Updated
48 min: Marcos Llorente bustles through the middle towards the edge of the Barcelona penalty area trying to get the better of Sergino Dest as he chases a through ball. Play is pulled up for a foul on Sergio Busquets in the build-up.
Second-half: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Barcelona
46 min: Play resumes with one change in personnel on each side. For Atletico Kieran Trippier is on for Rodrigo De Paul. He goes into the right wing-back position, with Marco Llorente moving further up the pitch. Barcelona bring on Sergi Roberto for Nico Gonzalez on the left of their midfield three.
Caption competition pic.twitter.com/EmIrsbGFNk
— The Spanish Football Podcast (@tsf_podcast) October 2, 2021
Half-time at the Wanda: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Barcelona
Peep: Thomas Lemar and Luis Suarez got the goals to leave Atletico Madrid in a very commanding position against Barcelona at the break.
45 min: Felix, Lemar and Suarez combine again to score with a lightning fast counter-attack. Felix playedas one-two with Lemar, who found himself in a two-on-one with Suarez against Pique. Lemar played the ball inside to Suarez, who took his time before slotting the ball past the advancing ter Stegen, making sure to avoid Pique, who was galloping back to try and stop his shot on the line.
GOAL! Atletico Madrid 2-0 Barcelona (Suarez 44)
Atletico double their lead. Atletico score on the counter but the celebration from Luis Suarez is muted against his former team.
Updated
44 min: Memphis tries to pick out Gerard Pique but his delivery sails into the gloves of Jan Oblak.
43 min: Savic and Memphis clash antlers over something or other but the referee doesn’t get involved. Barcelona win a free-kick for handball, wide on the right. Memphis Depay prepares to send the ball into the box.
42 min: Now Sergi Roberto is warming up for Barcelona. It’s all go, on and off the pitch.
38 min: Atletico corner. Thomas Lemar goes for an outswinger which is headed clear. Having told Felipe Anderson to warm up, Diego Simeone tells the Brazilian to sit down again. He is in constant communication with Stefan Savic, who he seems to think might be injured.
37 min: Barcelona are focussing almost all of their attacks down the left flank, specifically targetting the gap between Stefan Savic, on the right of Atletico’s back three and right wing-back Marcos Llorente.
35 min: Alternatively, he may have ordered a pizza and his Deliveroo driver is having trouble getting into the stadium.
33 min: Coutinho threads a pass outside Stefan Savic for Memphis to run on to. The Dutchman wasn’t expecting the delivery and is unable to take advantage. In the stands, Ronaldo Koeman is barking orders down a phone and doesn’t look at all happy. We can only presume he’s talking to Henrik Larsson, his man wearing earphones on the touchline.
Updated
30 min: A game that had been drifting fairly aimlessly has well and truly sprung into life. It’s end to end now as Memphis gets on the end of a delivery from the right to head across the face of goal. Frenkie De Jong stretches every sinew but can’t connect to steer the ball home.
28 min: Oof! Another one-touch move from Atletico. Suarez plays a give and go with Felix, who sends the Uruguayan in behind. His low shot across the face of goal rolls agonisingly wide of the far post. You’d have put the farm on Luis scoring that one!
27 min: Close, but no cigar for Philippe Coutinho, who pounces on a poor clearance to volley a low diagonal effort inches the wrong side of the upright from the edge of the Atletico penalty area.
25 min: Some brutal simplicity from Atletico there. On the right flank, Joao Felix received the ball and played it inside to Luis Suarez, who played Lemar in behind with a deft one-touch pass. In acres of room, the Frenchman picked his spot and rifled an unstoppable shot past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
GOAL! Atletico Madrid 1-0 Barcelona (Lemar 24)
Atletico lead! Thomas Lemar gets in behind the Barcelona defence and fires a screamer past ter Stegen to finish a scintillating move of one-touch passing between himself, Luis Suarez and Joao Felix.
Updated
22 min: Another Barcelona corner. On this occasion Coutinho’s outswinger is hoofed clear and the ball ends up back in the hands of ter Stegen.
21 min: Yannick Carasco curls the free-kick into the Barcelona penalty area fromn the right wing. His delivery, which I presume was supposed to be a cross, gives Marc-Andre ter Stegen plenty to think about as it threatens to drop under the bar. It lands on the roof of the net.
20 min: Barcelona’s Pablo Gaviro gets booked for a foul on Thomas Lemar.
19 min: Barcelona corner. Coutinho’s outswinger is headed clear.
18 min: No chances of note for either team with almost 20 minutes gone. Atletico are having the better of proccedings but there’s not a great deal in it. The game has been fairly cagey so far.
14 min: Philippe Coutinho grabs a hold of Joao Felix and won’t let go as he tries to put a stop to an Atletico counter-attack. He gives away a free-kick but avoids a yellow card.
13 min: A hopeful ball forward towards Luis Suarez from Mario Hermoso bounces straight through to Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
11 min: Joao Felix is sent galloping down the left flank by a great pass from Koke. He loses possession and then gives away a free-kick for a foul on Barcelona’s Oscar Mingueza while trying to win the ball back.
Updated
9 min: Thomas Lemar drifts inside from the right flank and tries a low drive from distance. Wide of the upright but not by much.
7 min: Memphis goes down on the edge of the Atletico penalty area holding his face after a coming together with Jose Gimenez. It’s a corner for Barcelona, from which nothing comes.
6 min: Joao Felix is fouled again, this time by Ronald Araujo.
5 min: Koke wins a loose ball in midfield and plays it forward to Joao Felix. Atletico win a free-kick about 40 yards from the Barcelona goal. Rodrigo De Paul overhits his delivery to the far post and the ball drifts wide.
3 min: Frenkie De Jong picks out Philippe Coutinho on the right touchline as Barcelona gallop forward. He plays it back to the Dutchman, who picks out Sergino Dest. Atletico clear.
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona is go ...
1 min: Barcelona get the ball rolling, their players wearing a pale blue/violet strip. The players of Atletico wear their usual red and white striped shirts, blue shorts and blue socks. On the touchline, Diego Simeone is doing his usual |Johnny Cash impression, wearing all black. Ronald Koeman is in the stands, serving the second instalment of a two-match touchline ban. I didn’t see what he’s wearing.
Updated
Not long now: The stands are packed as the teams march out on to the pitch. Koke leads out Atletico, while Marc-Andre ter Stegen wears the armband for Barcelona. Wer’re just a few handshakes, a coin-toss and a shrill blast of referee Soto Grado’s whistle away from kick-off.
A vote of confidence from Joan La Porta: “He will continue, Koeman will stay on as manager and he deserves some leeway,” said the Barcelona president earlier today. “Regardless of the result, Koeman will continue as the Barcelona manager.” Hmmm.
No Antoine Griezmann in the Atletico Madrid line-up: Joao Felix gets his first start starts up front alongside Luis Suarez, in a stadium that will be at 100% capacity for the first time in 18 months. On loan at Atletico from Barcelona, Griezmann starts on the bench and Thomas Lemar comes in for Kieran Trippier.
Updated
That Barcelona team: They have several players out injured and they may well win but on paper at least, I can’t remember ever seeing a more staggeringly ordinary Barcelona team in my lifetime.
Atletico Madrid v Barcelona line-ups
Atletico Madrid: Oblak; Llorente, Savic, Gimenez, Hermoso, Carasco; De Paul, Koke, Lemar; Suarez, Felix.
Barcelona: ter Stegen; Mingueza, Pique, Araujo, Dest; De Jong, Busquets, Gonzalez; Gaviro, Depay, Coutinho.
Your 𝗔𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗶 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗫𝗜 to face FC Barcelona 👥 pic.twitter.com/yHlHlYunoV
— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) October 2, 2021
🔥 𝘽𝘼𝙍𝘾̧𝘼 𝙓𝙄 🔥#AtletiBarça pic.twitter.com/M1kmQ05cMX
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) October 2, 2021
Early team news
Kieran Trippier was forced off in the first half of Atlético Madrid’s win over Milan and is a major doubt for this evening’s game but otherwise Diego Simeone has a full squad to choose from. Unlike in the Premier League, on loan players are allowed to feature against their parent clubs in La Liga, which means Antoine Griezmann could start for Atleti after scoring his first goal in six games against Milan during the week.
Ronaldo Koeman, by contrast, has a raft of injuries to contend with. Strikers Sergio Aguero, Martin Braithwaite and Ousmane Dembele are all sidelined, while midfielder Pedri and left-back Alex Balde are also unavailable. Fit again after 11 months out following a bad knee injury that required four operations, Ansu Fati made a goal-scoring return from the bench against Levante last Sunday but is unlikely to start tonight as Koeman eases him back in to action.
La Liga: Atletico Madrid v Barcelona
The Wanda Metropolitano is the venue for tonight’s Spanish top flight clash between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, who are fourth and seventh respectively in the La Liga table, separated by two points, with the hosts having played one game more.
After a decent start to the season, Atleti suffered a shock defeat at the hands of Alaves last weekend but bounced back with a rather fortuitous injury-time midweek win over AC Milan in the Champions League.
Still struggling to adjust to life after Leo, Barcelona’s financial problems have been well documented and manager Ronald Koeman is believed to be a dead man walking. His cause was certainly not helped by his side’s Wednesday night Champions League humbling at the hands of Benfica, their second defeat in two group games. Even victory tonight is unlikely to delay his apparently inevitable departure just as soon as a replacement – however unsuitable – is lined up.
Kick off in Madrid is at 8pm (BST) but stay tuned in the meantime for team news and build-up.
