La Liga Roundup: Barcelona beats Atlético despite Lewandowski’s absence
MADRID (AP) — Playing with out Robert Lewandowski wasn’t so dangerous for Barcelona in any case.
Barcelona overcame the absence of its prime striker to win 1-0 at Atlético Madrid and open a three-point lead over rival Real Madrid within the Spanish league on Sunday.
Madrid had misplaced 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday for its second league lack of the season. Atlético dropped to fifth place, seeing its hole to the lead attain 14 factors.
“We made a statement,” Barcelona coach Xavi said. “We showed that we are true title candidates.”
Ousmane Dembélé scored within the first half and Barcelona held on for its first league win of the yr. Dembélé scored with a low shot from shut vary after a arrange by Gavi Páez within the twenty second minute.
“We knew it was going to be powerful to win right here, however after Madrid misplaced factors towards Villarreal we needed to benefit from the chance,” Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets mentioned. “We must hold including factors on the prime.”
Barcelona was with out Lewandowski, the league’s main scorer with 13 objectives, as a result of the Poland striker started serving a three-game suspension from earlier than the World Cup break. He had confronted Espanyol late final yr after the suspension was quickly lifted, nevertheless it received reinstated this week to maintain him from taking part in.
Xavi began with Ansu Fati in Lewandowski’s place. Fati had come off the bench to attain the profitable objective in further time and assist Barcelona escape elimination towards third-division membership Intercity within the Copa del Rey midweek.
“It was necessary to win with out Robert, who’s a key participant for us,” Xavi mentioned.
Forward Antoine Griezmann had a few good alternatives to equalize for Atlético however couldn’t capitalize on them on the Metropolitano stadium within the Spanish capital. His greatest got here in stoppage time with a shot that Barcelona defender Ronald Araújo cleared simply in entrance of the objective line.
“We played well for most of the match,” Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak mentioned. “We created chances but we were a bit unlucky. We could have scored a few times, but the ball just didn’t go in.”
Atlético defender Stefan Savic and Barcelona ahead Ferran Torres have been despatched off in stoppage time after moving into an altercation with one another.
It was Barcelona’s first league win at Atlético since 2019.
Barcelona will now journey to Saudi Arabia to play within the Spanish Super Cup together with Madrid, Real Betis and Valencia. The Catalan membership takes on defending Copa del Rey champion Betis on Thursday in one of many semifinals. Madrid and Valencia play within the different semifinal on Wednesday.
SOCIEDAD NEAR THE TOP
Real Sociedad continued its good run by profitable 2-0 at Almería to remain in third place.
David Silva and Alexander Sorloth scored a objective every early within the second half to provide the Basque Country membership its sixth victory in a row in all competitions.
Sociedad is six factors behind second-place Madrid and 9 behind Barcelona. Almería, which had gained 4 in a row at residence within the league, dropped to 14th place.
BETIS STAYS CLOSE
Betis gained 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano to finish a three-game winless streak within the league and keep 4 factors behind Sociedad in fourth place.
It was the third consecutive league match with out a win for Rayo Vallecano, which stayed eighth.
RELIEF FOR SEVILLA
Sevilla defeated Getafe 2-1 at residence to finish a six-game winless streak within the league to maneuver out of the relegation zone. It hadn’t gained since a 1-0 victory at Mallorca in October.
Marcos Acuña and Rafa Mir scored for Sevilla, whereas Borja Mayoral netted for Thirteenth-place Getafe.
