Barcelona couldn’t defeat Atletico Madrid tonight, with the two teams splitting one point each at Camp Nou, 2-2. This is a massive setback for the hosts, whose chances to defend the title deteriorated very much following this event.
Atletico Madrid might have decided the champion this year in La Liga even though they continued their negative streak at Camp Nou, which sees them without a win here since 2006.
The players from the capital of Spain didn’t seem too disappointed following the finals whistle, as they managed to spoil Barcelona’s title plans.
FT: Barcelona 2-2 Atletico
Barcelona blow two leads and drop points for the third time since the restart.
Meanwhile, at Real Madrid: pic.twitter.com/Z7Pcd2eQry
— B/R Football (@brfootball) June 30, 2020
With this point, the champs are now one point behind Real Madrid who has a game in hand, which could allow him to run away up to four points.
As for tonight’s game, even though there were four goals, the contest itself wasn’t spectacular. Three of those hits came from the penalty spot, and one was an own goal.
The opening goal came after 11 minutes, with Diego Costa placing the ball behind his goalkeeper Oblak. Eight minutes later, we saw the first penalty, this one for Atletico. Costa took the responsibility, but Ter Stegen saved his shot, yet the referee saw the German goalkeeper coming out of the line. Saul leveled from the repeated penalty.
This was the result at the halftime, and there wasn’t too much action until the end of this sequence.
🔎 | FOCUS
Saúl Ñíguez vs Barcelona:
⏱️ 90' played
👌 54 touches
⚽️ 2 goals
🔑 1 key pass
👟 27/33 acc. passes
⚔️ 9/16 ground duels won
🏔️ 2/3 aerial duels won
❌ 9 tackles (most on the pitch)
📈 8.3 SofaScore ratingHe scored twice and was a rock defensively! 💪#BarçaAtleti pic.twitter.com/laLGOicKLz
— Sofascore (@SofascoreINT) June 30, 2020
The second 45 minutes brought two more penalties. Messi executed the first one in the 50th minute, and Saul added one more in the 62nd.
Blaugrana’s players were pretty nervous, and they weren’t able to make anything notable until the end of the game. They had the initiative but without a straightforward solution that would endanger Oblak and Atletico’s back line.
This is the third time over the previous four games that Barcelona records a draw, which is the main reason for their fall from the top spot of the Spanish league. As for Atleti, Simeone’s side is third with two points more than Sevilla, but are still not safe when it comes to the Champions League. Getafe has 52 points, and Villarreal 51, with both of them yet to play their matches.
