La Liga Match Report: Atletico vs Barcelona – Who Reigned Supreme?

The Estadio Vicente Calderon was at the center of action between La Liga’s titans – Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. The match was keenly watched as it would decide the better of the two, not to mention a massive morale booster to the winner. However, as the 90 minutes closed in, there was no decisive winner, with neither side able to net a goal. With this draw, Atletico no longer retain their record of home wins, but made it clear that they must not be underestimated as the Primiera title contenders. Barcelona, on the other hand proved resilient once again against a brutal opposition, even away from Camp Nou.

With this scoreless draw, Atletico and Barca continue to tie at 50 points at the top of the table with the latter leading due to a superior goal difference. Martino surprised Barca’s supporters by starting Neymar and Messi on the bench. He instead chose Alexis Sanchez, Cesc Fabregas and Pedro for a 3-pronged offense. Simeone, on the other hand countered with Costa and veteran David Villa. Atletico went for the kill with Koke and Costa each taking the game to Barca. However, an agile Pique ensured the Atleti wouldn’t succeed twice and then went on to test Atletico’s goalkeeper Courtois in Barca’s 1st counter. The teams went into half-time goalless.

Post half-time, Martino introduced Messi, who replaced Iniesta. Messi immediately got into the act, creating openings and in the 46th minute, redirected Dani Alves’ cross wide of the target, only to be ruled offside. Costa came close to scoring again in a counter-attack, firing wide off the post. Neymar came into the game in 77th minute as a replacement for Alexis. An assist by Jordi Alba had Messi going for a header that grazed the wide of the back post. Simeone, who watched the action made his 1st move, replacing Villa with Raul Garcia. The Atleti had the Barca’s defenders on high-alert as they moved swiftly to create many chances in a matter of few minutes, but no goals materialized. Messi countered with a nimble move into the box to set up an open shot for Fabregas, whose shot was quickly intercepted by Gabi.

As the whistle was blown, neither team ruled supreme. However, Barca looked a stronger, especially once Messi and Neymar were into the game. However, the true beneficiary of the match was Real Madrid, who not only defeated Espanyol, but managed to decrease the Point difference to just 3 points. With just half the season complete, the La Liga is expected to be a 3 – sided tournament, each trying to outplay the other to win the coveted title