Barcelona began the month of April looking, once again, to be the dominant team in Europe. It had comfortably dispatched Arsenal in the round of 16 in the Champions League and held a clear lead in the battle to win La Liga. It was on a 39-match unbeaten run, and Lionel Messi, the No. 1 player on its star-stuffed roster, was on the verge of scoring his 500th goal.
But that was nearly two weeks ago, and somehow, since then, Barcelona has managed to lose its way. First, it lost back-to-back games in La Liga. And then, on Wednesday night, in a stunning setback, it failed to make it out of the Champions League quarterfinals, eliminated by its Spanish rival Atlético Madrid by a 2-0 score, with both goals scored by the French forward Antoine Griezmann.
The result allowed Atlético to move on to the semifinal round, where it will be joined by Real Madrid, Manchester City and Bayern Munich, which tied at Benfica, 2-2, on Wednesday to advance on aggregate, 3-2. Meanwhile, Barcelona’s bid to defend its Champions League title was at an end.
Barcelona, playing at home, had beaten Atlético, 2-1, in the first leg of their matchup, although it had not looked all that convincing in doing so. And in the rematch Wednesday, played on Atlético’s turf, Barcelona seemed even less imposing.
This time, the game not only underlined the fragility of Barcelona’s defense, arguably always its weakest point, but also emphatically pointed to the sudden loss of form by its trident of superstar forwards — Messi, Neymar and Luis Suárez.
As the game proceeded, Suárez fired two good shots straight at Jan Oblak, Atlético’s goalkeeper. As for Neymar, he was a bystander throughout most of the game. And Messi’s disappointing performance culminated in his failure to capitalize on Barcelona’s final opportunity, when he took a free kick on the edge of the penalty box but sent it a little bit wide.
When it was over, Atlético had prevailed. And in La Liga, it now trails a seemingly vulnerable Barcelona by just 3 points.
All of this is a credit to Diego Simeone, who has rebuilt the team since taking over as Atlético’s coach five years ago, with much of his success coming from the club’s gritty defense. Two years ago, he took Atlético to the Champions League final while also wining La Liga. And going into Wednesday’s matchup, Atlético had not conceded a goal in 10 of its previous 11 home games in the Champions League.
When the game began Wednesday, Atlético started on its front foot, while on the other end, Barcelona hardly threatened. It took 25 minutes for Barcelona even to win a corner kick.
In the absence of Fernando Torres, who was suspended after being sent off in the first leg in Barcelona, Atlético’s attacking prospects relied heavily on Griezmann. He had already scored 27 goals this season, and he rose to the challenge. In the 35th minute, Griezmann put Atlético into the lead with a perfectly timed header on a cross by Sául.
Griezmann’s goal changed the dynamics of the game, with Barcelona forced to push forward in search of an equalizer, as Atlético held the edge with an away goal. But it repeatedly crashed into a disciplined Atlético defense, marshaled by Diego Godín, the rugged Uruguayan who repeatedly tussled with his countryman Suárez.
Luis Enrique, Barcelona’s coach, tried to change the momentum of the game, but to little avail. In the 64th minute, he made a double substitution to regain control of the midfield. Dani Alves made way for Sergi Roberto, and Ivan Rakitic was replaced by Arda Turan, the former Atlético player who joined Barcelona last summer. He was loudly booed by the home fans on Wednesday.
Barcelona pressed forward. But with time starting to run out, it was Barcelona’s defense that was once more split open, this time by an Atlético break down the left side of the field. It eventually forced Andrés Iniesta, Barcelona’s captain, to handle the ball inside the penalty area to stop a clear-cut goal-scoring opportunity. Griezmann converted the resulting penalty shot to give Atlético a 2-0 lead in the 88th minute.
And after the one brief scare from Messi’s free kick — a hand ball by Atlético’s captain, Gabi, that was ruled to be just outside the penalty area, although Barcelona argued otherwise — it was time for Atlético to rejoice with the 55,000 fans packed into its Vicente Calderón Stadium, a place that has been a daunting venue for visiting teams, and was again on Wednesday.
Despite the high stakes, the first two-thirds of the game did not produce the avalanche of yellow cards that the first leg in Barcelona did. Gabi received the first caution of the game, after 68 minutes, for a challenge on Messi. But in the final stages, amid the intensity of the upset that was taking place, the encounter got scrappier, including an altercation after Griezmann’s penalty kick. Before the game was over, Nicola Rizzoli, the Italian referee, ended up producing a further seven yellow cards.
After the game, Enrique did not elaborate on what had gone wrong but fully acknowledged his team’s overall loss of form. “We’re not in our best moment, nor effective,” he said.
He had gone into the game comforted by the knowledge that his team had always beaten Atlético this season and that, under his management, Barcelona had not lost in seven games against Simeone’s team. After Wednesday’s victory, Simeone was happy to recall that statistic: “It has been seven matches that we didn’t win against Barça,” he said. “One day, it had to be our turn.” And on Wednesday, it was.
Source: New York Times
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