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Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid and are sole LaLiga leaders

ByErnesto Hernandez|
Ousmane Dembele celebrates after scoring the first goal during the match between Atletico de Madrid and FC Barcelona at Civitas Metropolitano Stadium on January 08, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Ousmane Dembele celebrates after scoring the first goal during the match between Atletico de Madrid and FC Barcelona at Civitas Metropolitano Stadium on January 08, 2023 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
Stefan Savic (right) tackles Ousmane Dembele during Sunday’s Atletico de Madrid-FC Barcelona match at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)
Stefan Savic (right) tackles Ousmane Dembele during Sunday’s Atletico de Madrid-FC Barcelona match at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. (Photo by THOMAS COEX/AFP via Getty Images)

Barcelona moved 3 points ahead of Real Madrid in the LaLiga title race thanks a 1-0 away win against Atletico Madrid.

A solitary goal by Ousmane Dembele proved to be the difference maker for the Catalan side.

The tally was one of the lone bright spots for Barcelona. A run by Pedri opened the Colchonero defense as he laid the ball off to Gavi inside the box. Gavi stood his ground against the Atletico defender and slipped the ball to Dembele. The Frenchman then struck the ball to Jan Oblak’s far post for his fifth goal of the season.

The remainder of the match was one Barcelona supporters, and Xavi, would rather soon forget.

Barcelona did have an opportunity, however, to increase their lead. A back pass found its way to Pedri who took an extra touch and then tried to lob Oblak. His lob was saved and fortunately for the Blaugrana, the miss didn’t end up coming back to haunt them this time.

Atletico Madrid woke up after falling behind and tried to wrestle the game in their favor. Thanks to sloppy passes and an inability to play out from the back, Barcelona almost handed them an equalizer before the break.

Things weren’t much different in the second half with Barcelona suffering from the same players as the first.

Xavi tried to switch things up but his substitutes left many scratching their heads and didn’t have the influence he was hoping for. Ronald Araujo had a goal line clearance to stoppage time to deny Atletico an equalizer as Barcelona were able to hold on.

Again, it was another abject performance from Barcelona. The only improvement from the Espanyol game was they came away with the three points. At the end of the day, that’s what mattered as they took advantage of Real Madrid’s loss to Villarreal.

“It was an opportunity after Madrid’s defeat and we took advantage of it,” Sergio Busquets said after the game. “We knew it was going to be a tough game, in the second half we were able to control better. We suffered but we got the three points.”

Barcelona now take a break from the league as they head to Saudi Arabia where they will take on Real Betis in the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup.

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