Joao Felix’s excellent chip sealed a significant 1-0 win for Barcelona in opposition to Atletico Madrid within the La Liga title race on Sunday.
The Portuguese ahead, presently on mortgage to Barca from Atletico, brazenly expressed his satisfaction with leaving the Spanish capital this summer time and sought payback in opposition to his dad or mum membership on the Olympic Stadium.
Felix confronted criticism from some Atletico gamers earlier than the sport, and Barca coach Xavi Hernandez urged him to make use of these phrases as motivation, which he efficiently did.
Felix’s objective allowed Barcelona to reclaim third place from Atletico, now trailing leaders Real Madrid and second-placed Girona by 4 factors.
“Joao Felix said that he was calm, that it was just another game for him,” Barca defender Ronald Araujo informed Movistar.
“He wanted to put himself out there to score goals and give assists. The important thing is that he is happy.”
Araujo expressed the squad’s confidence in coach Xavi Hernandez and themselves regardless of the group’s current struggles.
“We know the team that we have and we believe a lot in the work we’re doing with the coach,” added Araujo.
“The results weren’t coming, but we did well in the Champions League and knew that today we had to do it too.”
Atletico has not received away in opposition to the champions in La Liga since 2006, a streak now stretching to 18 matches, however arrived considering this might be the time to interrupt that streak.
Since a defeat within the Clasico in opposition to Real Madrid on the finish of October, Barcelona has struggled for kind and confidence.
They narrowly received in opposition to Real Sociedad and Alaves regardless of being outplayed, misplaced to Shakhtar Donetsk in Europe and drew with Rayo Vallecano.
Xavi said that Barcelona was again on monitor with their win over Porto earlier this week to succeed in the Champions League final 16, and his phrases had been justified by a dominant first-half show.
Barcelona began properly, creating possibilities, and Felix broke the impasse after 28 minutes, taking an excellent contact to navigate Nahuel Molina’s problem after which chipping the ball over Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
Felix celebrated with arms aloft, standing on the promoting hoardings in entrance of the offended visiting supporters. At the identical time, Atletico coach Diego Simeone appeared disgruntled as he flashed up on the large screens.
The 24-year-old ahead, a membership document signing at 126 million euros ($137 million) in 2019, by no means settled within the capital and didn’t mesh with Simeone’s administration and enjoying fashion.
Perhaps not coincidentally, Axel Witsel was quickly booked for bringing down Felix, and Koke was additionally cautioned for a cynical problem on the rampaging Raphinha.
Felix got here near a second with a prodded effort from Ilkay Gündoğan’s cutback, however this time Oblak denied him.
The ahead referred to as for a penalty as Hermoso stepped on his foot after the shot, however his appeals had been dismissed.
Gündoğan impressed in midfield alongside fit-again duo Pedri and Frenkie de Jong as Barcelona managed the sport.
Despite their high-caliber opponents, the attendance fell in need of 35,000 and was the membership’s poorest this season, with supporters maybe deterred by the colder winter evenings and the late kick-off.
While Felix was on the right track in opposition to his former aspect, Atletico talisman Antoine Griezmann labored arduous however could not discover the web in opposition to his outdated employers – he has not scored in 14 video games in opposition to Barca for the Rojiblancos.
Memphis Depay, one other former Barcelona participant, got here closest for Atletico with a free-kick tipped over by Inaki Pena, who changed the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Robert Lewandowski ought to have sealed Barcelona’s victory however pulled an effort extensive when working in on objective.
The veteran striker has solely three targets in his final 10 video games for Barca throughout all competitions, however on this event, his profligacy didn’t price Xavi’s aspect.
Pena denied Angel Correa in stoppage time to make sure Atletico, in fourth place, path Barca by three factors and the highest two by seven.
“The idea was to go for the game, and I don’t know what happened,” Atletico goalkeeper Oblak informed Movistar.
“Nobody was good in the first half; nobody wanted the ball, nobody wanted to play.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com