Atletico Madrid were 10 points behind Barcelona in early November but will end 2024 with 3 points more than their opponents in the leading position in La Liga. And remember, they have played one game less than the Blaugrana.
Alexander Sorloth's 96th-minute decisive goal ended the match at the Olympic Stadium when Atletico Madrid sank Barcelona right at home. Rodrigo De Paul had earlier equalised for the visitors after Pedri opened the scoring. The victory over Barca was also the 12th consecutive victory in all competitions for the Madrid representative.
Meanwhile, coach Hansi Flick's team is still on a downward trend. After winning 33 points out of 36 points at the beginning of the season, Barcelona have weakened and have only won 6/21 recent points.
There are many reasons for Barcelona's decline. The high-ranking formation that was their strength has now become a vital weakness. Fatigue is another factor. Ten of their players have played more than 1,500 minutes this season. Raphinha admitted that fatigue has led to just one win in his last seven La Liga games.
However, Flick's side did not show any signs of fatigue against Atletico as they continued to play at high intensity and dominated the majority of the game. In fact, they should have scored more when they ended the game with 19 shots and an xG of 3.04 Atletico's chances, on the other hand, are few and far apart. They didn't even have a shot in the first half.
"We played a great game. It was unbelievable how we played. This is how I want to see my team play. Our style, the way we want to play, is really great. I am proud of the team" - Flick said.
Atletico have scored 13 goals in the 80th minute to win or draw in all competitions this season. That included Antoine Griezmann's decisive goal in the 94th minute when they came back to defeat Sevilla 4-3 two weeks ago.
However, doing that against Barca brought a different feeling. This was their first home win in the competition since 2006. Therefore, it is no surprise that the entire Atletico bench came onto the pitch to celebrate Sorloth's decisive goal.
Diego Simeone's team has now won 7 consecutive matches in La Liga and will end 2024 as the leading team in the tournament, even if Real Madrid defeats Sevilla. Simeone has twice helped Atletico surpass both Barca and Real to win the tournament. And can the Argentine repeat this achievement?
For Barcelona, they really need the upcoming winter break. Lamine Yamal will have time to recover from an ankle injury and other players like Pedri or Raphinha also need to rest.
