FC Barcelona v Atletico Madrid, UEFA Champions League 2015-16 - Hard fought win for Barcelona against 10-men Atletico Madrid

Camp Nou's mood had not dipped despite the El Clasico defeat few days back and the fans were vociferous. On paper, Barcelona had a terrific record against Atletico Madrid since Luis Enroque became the coach – six wins out of six. But, Diego Simeone’s men are a hard nut to crack.  Even with nine men they deserved to take something from their league clash earlier this year at Camp Nou. Atletico's last win over Barca came in the second leg of their quarter-final meeting in this competition two years ago, when Diego Simeone's side went through 2-1 on aggregate in the only previous European tie between the two sides.

 Koke-Torres combination gives Atletico the lead

As the game proceeded, Barcelona were controlling the possession, but Atletico Madrid didn’t allow them to dictate possession in the slightest. In opening ten to fifteen minutes, neither of the keepers faced any tough challenges as the ball hardly could get out of the midfield. The crowd at Camp Nou and TV viewers all around the world started to feel drowsy, but Torress turned the table around to gift some actions at the cost of Nou Camp crowd’s joy. Torres had scored in the 25^th minute and left Barcelona reeling.

It was his first Champions League goal for two years, where he netted for Chelsea against Atletico. Koke managed to discover a space bit outside the area, and Pique was drawn out to close down on the midfielder. When he vacated, it allowed a huge gap for Torres to run into. Koke was able to pick out the desired pass and the striker won the one-on-one battle with Ter Stegen to script a cool finish. That combination of Koke to Torres was a repeat of how Atletico scored their first goal at the weekend, with the midfielder knowing just where the forward was heading and executing a perfectly weighted pass.

Hero Torres becomes a zero

Four minutes later, Torres halted Neymar’s run and tripped him needlessly which earned him a yellow card.  Six minutes later, he received a red card following a ridiculous lunge on Sergio Busquets which was well worthy of a second yellow card. Torres’ needles challenges left his team in disarray as Atletico were down to ten-men. It was high time for Barcelona to regain their momentum.

Luis Suarez to the rescue

Ten-men Atletico Madrid concentrated on saving the 1-0 lead rather than scoring and this tactic led Barca to rediscover their vim. They dominated throughout the second half in commanding fashion and as a matter of fact, it was expected. But it took them 63 minutes to score the equalizer. Luis Suarez came to the rescue when he diverted Jordi Alba’s mishit into the net. Eleven minutes, Suarez generated an incredible amount of power behind his header from the right on the penalty spot, sending an unstoppable effort past Oblak.

Luis Suarez was damn lucky

I must say, Luis Suarez was damn lucky. He was fortunate to escape after viciously kicking Juanfran in the area in the first half and, with the scores at 1-1, grabbing Filipe Luis by the neck. Such an aggressive exhibition should have brought straight red cards. Instead, however, he received only a yellow for the second action - and went on to win the match for Barca.

Hard fought win for Barcelona

When the battle is about 10 vs 11, then automatically, the advantage goes to the side who are playing with their 11-men. But Barcelona are a side who brings in a lot of quality and the aura of invincibility with them whenever they face any oppositions in Europe. Critics and fans expect a lot more from them. But last night, they were found struggling against a 10-men Atletico Madrid and in the first half, the game was almost even with Atletico drawing the first blood. Barcelona did a lot of passing and maintained the possession, but the cutting edge was few and far between. Had Luis Suarez followed Torres’ fate, it might not have been another frustrating night for them.

Is the might of Barcelona gradually waning?

Thank You

Faisal Caesar