Atletico Madrid moved to the top of the La Liga table when Alexander Sorloth scored with the last kick of the match to secure a dramatic 2-1 victory over Barcelona in Catalonia on Saturday.
The seismic moment in the race for the Spanish name is also historic, as it represents Diego Simeone’s first league win at Barcelona and marks the first time since 2006 that Atletico Madrid have picked up a La Liga win away from home against the Catalan giants.
Barcelona dominated almost the entire match offensively and, when Pedri scored after an hour, it was the harbinger of another painful reminder of Atletico’s struggles in their City of Horrors. Simeone’s side were under siege for the first forty-five minutes, without a single shot before the break.
MORE: A closer look at the crazy streaks that ended when Barcelona fell to Atlético Madrid
At the beginning of the second half, there were not many changes and it seemed that the visitors were powerless to prevent history from repeating itself once again. Even after Rodrigo de Paul equalized against the run of play in the 60th minute, it was only a matter of time before Barcelona regained their previous lead.
Yet when Robert Lewandowski inexplicably missed a sitter with 15 minutes to go, hope began to creep in for Atletico Madrid. Then, in the 97th minute, super-sub Alexander Sorloth completed a venomous counter-attack and plunged a dagger into Barcelona hearts.
That propelled Atletico Madrid to first place in the Spanish standings with 12 straight wins in all competitions, while Barcelona have won just one of their last seven La Liga games, adding up to consecutive defeats.
Sporting News followed the Barcelona vs Atletico Madrid fit live, offering score updates and commentary.
Minute by minute observation | Team news and lineups | How to see where you are
Venue: Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium (Barcelona, Spain) Referee: Ricardo De Burgos
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Initial compositions:
Barcelona (4-3-3, right to left): 13. Inaki Pena (GK) — 23. Jules Kounde, 2. Pau Cubarsi, 5. Inigo Martinez, 3. Alex Balde — 6. Gavi (Olmo, 64′), 17. Marc Casado (E. Garcia, 80′), 8. Pedri — 16. Fermin Lopez (F. Torres, 64′), 9. Robert Lewandowski, 11. Raphinha.
Atlético de Madrid (4-4-2, from left to right): 13. Jan Oblak (GK) — 14. Marcos Llorente (Le Normand, 74′), 2. José Gimenez (Witsel, 52′), 15. Clément Lenglet, 21. Javi Galán — 22. Giuliano Simeone (Molina, 62′), 5. Rodrigo De Paul, 8. Pablo Barrios, 4. Conor Gallagher (Koke, 62′) — 7. Antoine Griezmann (Sorloth, 74′), 19. Julián Álvarez.
MORE: Updated La Liga top goal scorers list after cataclysmic Lewandowski miss vs. Atleti
FULL TIME: Barcelona 1-2 Atletico Madrid
BARCELONA IS STUNNED TO DEATH! At the final whistle, Diego Simeone rushed straight into the tunnel in his delirious celebration!
The hosts were in complete control of the match the entire way through, but failed to finish chances and have been punished in brutal fashion. The long wait for Diego Simeone is over as he gets his first-ever league victory on the road at Barcelona!
90 7 min: GOAL!ATLÉTICO DE MADRID! ALEXANDER SORLOTH SCORES WITH THE LAST SHOT OF THE MATCH IN WHICH ATLETICO MADRID MAKES HISTORY AND ACHIEVES AN IMPROBABLE VICTORY!WHAT A TRAGEDY!
Raphinha betrays him and Atlético de Madrid launches a fierce counter, and with a perfectly weighted center from Nahuel Molina from the right, Sorloth finishes with fatal precision in the most sensible corner. This cannot be recovered, Barcelona ruined the match despite dominating for almost 90 minutes!
VIDEO: Watch Atletico Madrid goal in USA | Watch in UK
86th min: Chance, Barcelona! Pedri produces what could be considered the pass of the season near midfield, taking a ball near his shoulders and leg-whipping it perfectly in the path of a streaking Raphinha down the left. But as the Brazilian latched on, he ended up at too tight of an angle, and his shot is parried by Jan Oblak.
Moments later, Barcelona recycles the ball and Pedri is the one who should play at the right back, but he can only make a clumsy save from Oblak, and he goes out for a corner!Barcelona are back in the lead!
80th min: Marc Casado is hauled off for Eric Garcia, as Barcelona make a change at the base of midfield. Moments later, Dani Olmo flashes a tight-angle shot across the face of goal and wide of the far post.
77th minute: Opportunity, Atlético de Madrid! Moments after Lewandowski’s miss, Iñaki Peña made a brilliant save to keep the game level!He rejected Pablo Barrios! He lets go on the left and has the goalkeeper to beat, but Peña sticks out his right foot.
Shortly after, Robin Le Normand is booked for hauling down Pedri in transition as Barcelona looked to break the other way. This game has sprung to life!
76′: Good luck, Barcelona! ROBERT LEWANDOWSKI WASTES A BRILLIANT OPPORTUNITY TO SCORE! How did this happen?!?!
The ball is brilliantly transferred to the post for Ferran Torres right on the goal line and he hits the ball sideways to Lewandowski so that he misses the goal just 3 meters from the line, but he smells the ball completely and the chance is gone! gone! I expected him to get this a hundred times out of a hundred!
LEWANDOWSKI MISSES A HUGE OPPORTUNITY! pic. twitter. com/KIGrpwJptD
74th minute: Antoine Griezmann, who once defended Barcelona absolutely invisible, is replaced by Alexander Sorloth for the last 15 minutes. Barcelona remains the only team at war in La Liga that Griezmann has not scored in defense of Atletico Madrid.
Robin Le Normand enters to update Marcos Llorente.
Minute 66: Good luck, Barcelona! Once at the back, Raphinha unlocks Atletico Madrid’s backline with a delightful move towards Robert Lewandowski on the byline, but the striker fails to do so and there is no one on the post to touch the ball as it crosses the open goal. !
62nd minute: Koke will enter Atletico Madrid’s midfield in place of Conor Gallagher. The England foreigner took part in this new attacking move, but it is his latest contribution to the match. Nahuel Molina also enters to reposition the invisible Giuliano Simeone.
Barcelona respond shortly after by bringing on Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres to replace Fermin Lopez and Gavi.
60th min: GOAL! ATLETICO MADRID! THE VISITORS ARE LEVEL OUT OF NOTHING! It’s Rodrigo de Paul with a cut finish from an attack that seemingly had fizzled out!
A breakaway down the left-hand side for Julian Alvarez ends in a cutback for a trailing Antoine Griezmann, but the feed was well behind the Frenchman and it seemed that was the end of that move. Instead, the ball clips off the outstretched leg of Marc Casado, and it falls right to De Paul charging onto it from deep, and he makes no mistake from a good 25 yards out, burying it inside the far post!
VIDEO: Watch De Paul’s goal in the United States
3 – Rodrigo de Paul ?? has scored 3 goals in his last 4 games in @LaLiga, the same as in his last 53 games in the competition. 50% of the goals he scored with #AtléticoDeMadrid ?⚪️ were outside the domain (7/14). Punch. pic. twitter. com/rkrHdtiOXe
57th min: Chance, Barcelona! RAPHINHA PUTS HIS CHIPPED EFFORT OFF THE CROSSBAR! Pedri releases the Brazilian down the right, and Raphinha tries a sensational clip over Jan Oblak but gets it off the top of the woodwork.
On the rebound, Robert Lewandowski tries to attack it but slips and only clatters Axel Witsel who’s down and needs treatment.
Minute 56: Julián Álvarez does well to recover a ball via the speed of Pau Cubarsi, beating the young defender to the ball, but Cubarsi remains right on his hip and gets an important dispossessed throw-in at the last imaginable moment before he Álvarez receives. one shot
Everything Atleti has at the moment is against them, they have no accumulation to speak of.
54th minute: Robert Lewandowski is sent off at the top of the penalty area through Axel Witsel, a few centimeters from the penalty area. Witsel, who has just entered, receives a yellow card for this bad tackle.
This gives the hosts a very damaging loose shot to the left of midfield, and Lewandowski takes it but smashes the ball straight into the wall.
Moments later, Pedri heads into the most sensible corner from a damaging position on the right, but throws it high. Barcelona are still in this match, they have not substituted anything noteworthy since the break.
Minute 52: Atlético de Madrid is forced to make a replacement with the dismissal of José Giménez, its most experienced player and captain. It turns out that he suffers pain and frustration on his face when he is replaced by Axel Witsel.
48th min: Chance, Barcelona! Fermin Lopez is clean through on goal thanks to a truly fantastic vertical through-ball from Pedri, but he’s denied by Jan Oblak! A wonderful, top-class save to keep the deficit at one!
From Atlético de Madrid’s point of view, it is a bad opportunity to retire because it is very similar to the one that opened the scoring! It was a terrible gift from José Giménez who tried to replace but passed it directly to Raphinha in the central attacking area.
Start of the 2nd part: Resumption at the Barcelona Olympic Stadium. There are no adjustments in any aspect at the moment, which is wonderful from Atlético de Madrid’s point of view.
BREAK: Barcelona 1-0 Atlético de Madrid
Total and absolute dominance of Barcelona during the first 40 minutes of the game, with Pedri’s goal as an exclamation point. It seemed that Atlético de Madrid had something to say in the last five minutes before the break, but in this game they had already surpassed the moment.
With only one goal for Barcelona at the end of all that offensive pressure, it will be interesting to see how Diego Simeone organizes tactical or personal adjustments at half-time. Atlético de Madrid is once again humiliated on the road to Barcelona, which has been a normal phenomenon in the last two decades.
23 – Teams from the five most sensible European leagues with the maximum goals scored in the first part of their matches this season. 23 – #BARCELONA ??22 – Bayer Leverkusen21 – PSG21 – Inter20 – Bayern MunichTuned. pic. twitter. com/kCobdIhTHF
40th minute: Atlético Madrid appear to be on a breakaway as Conor Gallagher does well to throw Julián Álvarez forward, but Barcelona’s notable offside works to perfection and Álvarez gets stuck leaning too early.
37th minute: Raphinha is surely cooking today, as he shoots Conor Gallagher to loosen on the right wing line. He stripped himself off shortly after while looking to get rid of some other defender in the same way, but so far he is giving Atletico Madrid players nightmares.
Minute 30: GOAL! AN ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS OPENING GOAL FROM PEDRI!!!!A really sensational combination with Gavi, and it’s happening!!
The Barcelona midfielder crosses Atletico Madrid’s midfield and hits Gavi, who makes a brilliant turn to break free from a defender and complete the wall with Pedri. Thanks to the goal, Pedri only had to beat Jan Oblak, and he shot it low to the corner!What a glorious combination!
VIDEO: Watch Pedri goal in USA | Watch in UK
Come with Pedri! ?#BarçaAtleti | #LaLigaHighlights pic. twitter. com/LBfBGs7YRT
Minute 25: Good luck, Barcelona! The tension continues for Barcelona and Gavi puts his head wide! Raphinha, who has been brilliant so far, sent the cross over for a layup near the post, but Gavi couldn’t get it right, getting a smart effort into the effort yet to make it over the woodwork.
Minute 21: Good luck, Barcelona! The match was stopped for VAR to take a closer look at an incident in which a Barcelona cross eluded two forwards and clipped Giuliano Simeone on the elbow. However, the culprits of the replay are not convinced as it does not detract from the incident as two strikers purposely inhaled attempts as the ball was passing. Thanks to the officials for showing not unusual common sense!
On the eventual corner, Inigo Martinez attempts a powerful hit from about 10 yards out shaded right, but Jan Oblak has his near post covered and palms the ball away with two hands!
Minute 18: Atlético de Madrid controlled Barcelona’s attack, but they didn’t achieve much either. In the end, the visitors became self-conscious and had a speculative chance from a set piece near the flag in the right corner, but the brilliant delivery was extended and cleared.
Minute 9: Barcelona continues to maintain all offensive possession, pushing Atletico Madrid back into their defensive third. Raphinha was an absolute risk on the left, forcing Atleti into moments of emergency defence as a last resort. Obviously these are the first steps of the procedure.
4th min: Good luck, Barcelona! The home team had the advantage from the start, as Atlético de Madrid blocked two transparent chances right in front of the goal! Raphinha’s effort was the greater of the two as he shot from the most sensitive right corner of the area only to see it deflected!
Raphinha with a solid chance!#BarçaAtleti ⏐ #LaLigaHighlights pic.twitter.com/dxdLzn58EF
Kickoff: The top two teams in the La Liga table are under way in Barcelona!
15 mins to kickoff: We’ve spoken already about Atletico Madrid’s horrible recent record against Barcelona, but here’s one number to really put it into perspective: Atleti have not won a league game at Barcelona since February of 2006.
Lamine Jamal is more than a year away!Can their recent form this season push them to oppose this unfortunate fate in the opposite way to today’s Catalan giants?
?: Atlético Madrid’s coach Diego Simeone has never won a match away at Barcelona in 17 attempts in all competitions. He has recorded 7 draws and 10 defeats while visiting Barça. pic.twitter.com/8DewZKMhKr
30 mins to kickoff: The all-time top goal scorer in this league fixture is none other than Lionel Messi, with his 26 La Liga goals for Barcelona against Atletico Madrid — and 32 if you count all competitions. For the visitors today, their all-time top goal scorer is Paco Campos with 12, not even half Messi’s career total.
?️ From the Vault:Le ? ? Atleti#BarçaAtleti pic. twitter. com/9aSuPqVWH1
45 minutes before kick-off: Both groups have opted for a consistent starting lineup given their available squad, but either of them have made adjustments in midfield. Conor Gallagher of Atlético de Madrid and Gavi of Barcelona bring a large number of frames to the center of the park.
The most attractive aspect is focusing on who calls the shots. Frenkie de Jong and Dani Olmo are also not at Barcelona, the latter having not scored a goal since the beginning of November.
For Atlético Madrid, Samuel Lino hooked up at half-time in the win over Getafe last time out and is replaced by a natural midfielder in Gallagher. Could this mean moving away from the 4-4-2 and putting Antoine Griezmann in the 10 with Simeone? And Álvarez in front? We’ll see how it goes.
An hour before kick-off: Barcelona’s lineup also moved forward a little and there are no oddities in Hansi Flick’s eleven either. Lamine Yamal is still out due to an ankle injury, and Fermín López replaces him on the wing in place of the hot Ferrán Torres. Gavi comes into midfield in just his third start of the Championship season since returning from a torn ACL.
Boss Flick will not be on the touchline as he serves his two-match suspension.
1 hour and 15 minutes before kick-off: Atlético de Madrid revealed their eleven 15 minutes before. There are no surprises in Diego Simeone’s eleven, with only one replacement, as the English foreigner Conor Gallagher enters the lineup in place of Samuel Lino.
1 hour and 30 minutes before kick-off: Atlético de Madrid puts on its wise gray shirts today. A magnificent away uniform!
? pic.twitter.com/SzCTAWJhUN
1 hour 45 mins to kick: Ferran Torres has been a man in form off the bench for Barcelona of late, often coming in for the aging Robert Lewandowski to finish off games. The former Man City forward says he’s been a better player recently thanks to Lewandowski, saying before this match he’s tried to be “like a sponge” to learn from the famed Polish striker.
2 hours before kick-off: The juxtaposition of Atletico Madrid’s recent form in the league and their recent history against Barcelona could not be more contrasted.
Atleti have won 11 consecutive games in all competitions, adding the last six in La Liga. However, they have lost five times in a row to Barcelona in the league and once in their last 16, without scoring in their last 4 games.
Even crazier, the electric Antoine Griezmann has never scored for Atlético Madrid against Barcelona in a league match, with just one goal in 15 appearances, and he assisted in a 1-1 draw in 2018.
Could this replace today? The recent form of Griezmann and Atlético Madrid indicates that they now have the chance, in a long time, to turn this terrible streak around.
❗️Antoine Griezmann has scored in 29 of the 30 teams he has faced with Atletico Madrid in La Liga. He just didn’t score against the Barcelona. @mundodeportivo pic. twitter. com/EQd7AibZ5F
This top-of-the-table La Liga match kicks off from the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium on Saturday, December 21 at 9 p.m. local time in Barcelona, Spain. Here’s how that time translates across some of the major territories around the globe:
Barcelona will be without teenage superstar Lamine Yamal with an ankle injury, which will keep him sidelined until early 2025. Hansi Flick’s side have failed to win any of the four league games the 17-year-old has already missed in 2024/25 under Fermin Lopez. potentially replacing it in the initial XI.
Also missing is none other than the aforementioned head man himself, as Flick serves the second of a two-match suspention.
Andreas Christensen, Marc Bernal and Marc-Andre ter Stegen all remain out injured as well with the Blaugrana looking thin, something fans have become accustomed to in recent years, although they do get Ansu Fati back on the bench today while Ronaldo Araujo is also amongst the substitutes while he works back from a long-term hamstring issue.
Barcelona starting lineup (4-3-3): Pena (GK) — Kounde, Cubarsi, Martinez, Balde — Gavi, Casado, Pedri — Lopez, Lewandowski, Raphinha.
Barcelona substitutes (12): Szczesny (GK), Astralaga (GK), Araujo, E. García, S. Dominguez, G. Martin, De Jong, Olmo, Torre, Fati, F. Torres, Victor.
Diego Simeone has not shown any new injuries on his part and could remain in a team without changes since last weekend’s 1-0 draw against Getafe. Only Ángel Correa expected to be absent due to a muscle injury, but even he was available from the bench.
Despite scoring a winner off the bench last time out, Alexander Sorloth could remain amongst the substitutes, with Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann in sparkling form up front.
Atletico Madrid XI (4-4-2): Oblak (GK) — Llorente, Gimenez, Lenglet, Galan — Simeone, De Paul, Barrios, Gallagher — Alvarez, Griezmann.
Atletico Madrid subs (12): Musso (GK), Azpilicueta, Le Normand, Witsel, Riquelme, Reinildo, Lino, Molina, Lemar, Koke, Correa, Sorloth.
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Kyle Bonn, is a Syracuse University broadcast journalism graduate with over a decade of experience covering soccer globally. Kyle specializes in soccer tactics and betting, with a degree in data analytics. Kyle also does TV broadcasts for Wake Forest soccer, and has had previous stops with NBC Soccer and IMG College. When not covering the game, he has long enjoyed loyalty to the New York Giants, Yankees, and Fulham. Kyle enjoys playing racquetball and video games when not watching or covering sports.