Barcelona was forced to a 2-2 draw against Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou, as Diego Simeone’s men displayed a inspired performance as expected without the service of Atletico captain Koke.
Barcelona captain Lionel Messi scored the 700th goal of his career with a panenka penalty in to befooled Oblak when he gave Barcelona 2-1 lead. With that goal, Messi became seventh player in the football history to score 700 career goals considering all competitions (i.e. for club and country). It was Messi’s 630th goal in his 724th appearance for the club.
Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid – Goals
Barcelona went ahead with a Lionel Messi corner, when the ball touched the former Chelsea striker Diego Costa before crossing goal-line. Atletico goalkeeper Oblak did not have time to react in this occasion. Costa had a chance to amend his mistake when Yannick Carrasco was fouled inside the box by Vidal. The Brazil born-Spanish international stepped up, but his attempt to the left of er Stegen was saved by Barcelona goalkeeper.
But Referee decided for a retake of the penalty as the Barcelona goalkeeper had come off his line before Costa actually hit the ball. Next time, Saul Niguez was took the spot-kick and sent German goalkeeper in the wrong way.
Lionel Messi restored Barcelona’s lead immediately after half time with a cheeky Panenka, but Niguez equalised once again from the spot. This time Marc-Andre ter Stegen almost stopped the ball.
The match could be significant for La Liga 2019-20 season, as the effective point difference between first and second spot-holder in La Liga would be of 4 points if Real Madrid win their next match. So effectively, Real need 5 wins out of 6 remaining matches to win the La Liga.
Barcelona
1-ter Stegen <Booked at 17>, 2-Nélson Semedo, 3-Piqué <Booked at 18>, 15-Lenglet, 18-Alba, 22-Vidal (Griezmann 90′), 5-Busquets (Fati 85), 4-Rakitic (Roberto 63′), 28-Puig, 10-Messi <Booked at 61>, 9-Suárez
Substitutes
8-Arthur, 13-Murara Neto, 17-Griezmann, 19-Braithwaite, 20-Roberto, 23-Umtiti, 24-Firpo, 26-Peña, 30-Collado, 31-Fati, 33-Araújo, 42-Rodríguez Jiménez
Atletico Madrid
13-Oblak, 4-Arias, 2-Giménez, 18-Felipe <Booked at 51> 12-Lodi dos Santos, 10-Correa (Machín Pérez 84′), 5-Partey, 8-Saúl <Booked at 35>, 21-Carrasco <Booked at 80> (Lemar 85′ <Booked at 90), 14-Llorente (Sequeira 69′), 19-Diego Costa <Booked at 75> (Morata 76′)
Substitutes
1-Adán, 7-Sequeira, 9-Morata, 11-Lemar, 16-Herrera, 17-Saponjic, 20-Machín Pérez, 22-Hermoso, 23-Trippier, 26-García, 35-Manuel Sánchez, 42-Ricard Sánchez
