Ousmane Dembele scored a first-half winner as Barcelona took a three-point lead at the top of La Liga by beating Atlético Madrid
Dembélé scored with a sweet shot from the side past Gavi and also hit a post in the second half. Atlético was able to equalize in stoppage time, but Antoine Griezmann’s shot was cleared off the line by Ronald Araujo. Both brigades ended up with 10 men after Stefan Savic and Ferran Torres were transferred off for a brawl. The two ex-Manchester City players seized possession of the ball, landed on the field, and received back-to-back red cards.
Xavi’s side completely capitalized on Real Madrid’s defeat by Villarreal on Saturday, opening up a bumper at the peak having lost just formerly in the league this season. Diego Simeone was leading Atletico for a La Liga record 418th game, the most successive matches in charge of a single club in Spain’s top flight. But the Argentine saw his side fall to a fifth loss in 16 games and any expedients of winning the title look to have been extinguished with Atletico lying fifth, 14 points adrift of the leaders. Dembele’s thing was the capstone of a slick platoon move as Pedri’s burst of acceleration fed Gavi, who laid the ball off for the France winger to finish into the nethermost corner.
An alternate thing could have followed snappily but Pedri’s launched trouble from Jose Gimenez’s eyeless backpass was clawed out by Jan Oblak. Atletico was chasing the game in the alternate half as they looked to salvage a point, but Griezmann’s rising drive was superbly sloped over the bar by Marc- Andre Ter Stegen. When he did beat the Germany goalkeeper in the 94th nanosecond, Araujo was deposited in the right place to clear it off the line. Torres had a thing ruled out for offside before in the alternate period and, maybe frustrated was also involved in a fracas with Savic in the final many twinkles that saw the brace dismissed.
