Barcelona won by the minimum (1-0) to Atlético de Madrid, this Sunday in the 30th day of the League, and they took an important step towards the title, by maintaining their eleven-point advantage over Real Madrid, second, with eight games left to play.

At the Camp Nou, Barça was served by a shot in the area by Ferran Torres (44) after an assist from Raphinha, thrown into space by the Uruguayan Ronald Araujo.

Real Madrid, more focused on their Champions League semifinals against Manchester City and in the Cup final against Osasuna, had complied on Saturday with a 2-0 win against Celta (12th).

After three games without victory in the championship, the team led by Xavi Hernández was reunited with victory in his favorite way this season, with a 1-0.

“The sensations are not very good, we did not play very badly in the first half, quite well I think, but they scored on us in the last minute before the break and in the second we had chances”, summed up the rojiblanco goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Barcelona gave a lesson in forcefulness

His coach Diego Simeone shared his analysis: “We were not lucky or forceful. Griezmann’s crossbar, the one Ter Stegen takes… they were forceful the first time and this is what makes you champion.”

The goal was a liberation for Ferran Torres, a starter in this gala match despite his poor statistics, with only one goal in all competitions since November 1 -in the 4-0 defeat of Elche on April 1, in his last duel as a starter-.

Without Ousmane Dembele, whose return is scheduled for next week, Torres dressed as Robert Lewandowski, who played his fourth match without scoring.

The protagonist of a spectacular start to the season in his debut as a Barça player, the Polish star has not been the same since January. In the last nine games he only scored against Elche. And in minute 10, in what is already a custom, the Camp Nou began to shout “Messi, Messi!”, as a sign of the enthusiasm caused by the possible return of the genius home.

Xavi recovered on a sunny afternoon Frenkie De Jong, the starter, and Pedri, who received a standing ovation when he came into play in the 61st minute, replacing Ferran Torres.

“They have brought a lot of peace of mind to the team. Without detracting from others, these two footballers are capital, they make a difference, they understand everything, they do everything they touch better, they are fundamental in our idea of ​​football,” said the coach about the two midfielders .

Atlético, entrenched in third place in the League, which will allow them to qualify directly for the Champions League group stage, was not effective on the many occasions it had.

Already in the first minute, Antoine Griezmann hit the crossbar in a left-footed shot after a recovery from Thomas Lemar, also a Frenchman, and a brilliant pass from Ángel Correa.

His other great chance came in 73, with a heel shot that Marc André Ter Stegen stopped without difficulty.

The end of the game, marked by fouls -the referee showed 12 yellow cards- did not benefit either of the two teams in a disputed duel but with few sparks of brilliance.

SPORTS
with AFP

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