Barcelona take giant leap towards title with defeat of Atletico Madrid

Atletico Madrid may have been the more impressive team for long spells of Saturday afternoon’s top of the La Liga table clash at the Camp Nou, but Barcelona’s 2-1 win means the Catalan side have now taken control of the Spanish title race.

This fixture has been decisive in the last two seasons, and Barca taking a three-point lead over Atletico [with a game in hand], plus a similar advantage over Real Madrid, makes Luis Enrique’s men raging favourites to defend their crown.

Atletico started brightly on and were deservedly ahead after 10 minutes through midfielder Koke’s 10 yard strike.

Barca took time to get going, but stormed ahead thanks to excellent goals from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.

The visitors were rocked with a straight red for left-back Filipe Luis just before the break.

Diego Simeone’s side did not back down however, and were close to equalising when Antoine Griezmann was denied at point-blank range by Barca goalkeeper Claudio Bravo.

Even when Atletico were down to nine, after Diego Godin picked up a second yellow card for slicing down his fellow Uruguayan Suarez, they refused to give up.

Visiting keeper Jan Oblak went forward at an 89th minute free-kick as his plucky team tried desperately for an equaliser.

“We had a difficult start, a strange start, we could not get into the game with the right intensity,” Barcelona boss Enrique said.

“We suffered a goal after a chain of our own mistakes.

“We found it difficult to keep possession, and it was tough right until the end.

“It was a game in which we suffered, but this is a very good result against a very good team.”

While Messi showed leadership for Barca, especially in the first half, other Barca stars including Neymar and Andres Iniesta had a disappointing day.

Atletico youngsters Saul Niguez and Yannick Carrasco, among the five starters not around when Los Colchoneros won the 2013/14 La Liga title, were much more impressive.

At his post-game press briefing, Simeone decided against lamenting the rash challenges which saw more senior figures Filipe Luis and Godin deservedly sent off.

Instead, he focused on praising the efforts of his younger players.

“I’m very proud of the team,” Simeone said.

“This year’s team has very young players, who are improving. Saul was tremendous, Carrasco very good.

“Given the difficulties of the game, they showed personality.

“We were never out of the game.

“I’m taking away a lot of positive things, although the defeat is painful.”

Atletico’s kids are improving, but maybe not quite quickly enough.

They now have fewer points at this stage than in any of Simeone’s other three full seasons in charge.

New serious knee injuries to key players Godin and Augusto Fernandez are also causes of concern.

Barca have fewer troubles.

They have managed to come through a busy January schedule playing well below their best, while stretching their unbeaten run to 26 games, and qualifying to face Gary Neville’s Valencia in the Copa del Rey semi-finals.

With a very winnable Champions League last 16 tie against Arsenal looming, Luis Enrique is now trying to dampen down expectations of an unprecedented second successive treble.

“It’s true this is an important result for us, against our closest rival, but there is a long way to go,” he said on Saturday.

“Every game, whoever is the rival, presents its difficulties.

“There’s a lot of La Liga still to play.”