Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table.
Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday.
“I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to be top.”
Photo: Reuters
Atletico remain third on 56 points from 28 games.
The hosts took the lead on the stroke of halftime through Julian Alvarez after Antoine Griezmann broke quickly and found Giuliano Simeone, who curled a precise pass for the Argentine to score his 11th league goal of the season.
Diego Simeone’s side doubled their lead in the 70th minute through substitute Alexander Sorloth’s brilliant close-range finish after he was set up by Conor Gallagher.
Photo: Reuters
Barcelona responded almost immediately when Robert Lewandowski latched on to Inigo Martinez’s cross to take the Poland striker’s tally to a league-leading 22 goals this season.
The visitors equalized in the 78th minute when Torres headed home a delightful ball into the penalty area from substitute Raphinha.
Lamine Yamal added a third in stoppage-time when his long-range strike found the back of Jan Oblak’s net, before Torres put the icing on the cake with his second of the night.
“It was very important to get the three points today,” Yamal said. “At the end of the anger, of the impotence of seeing that we weren’t comfortable, we showed our best side, we gave the best we had.”
“It was clear to me that if I scored it would be in important games. Since the ball was on the other side of the pitch I could see Gallagher was moving away from me, and as soon as it came to me I saw the opportunity and I saw the shot,” he said.
The teams meet again in the Copa del Rey semi-finals after the first leg ended in a thrilling 4-4 draw, with the return taking leg place at the Metropolitano on April 2.
Elsewhere on Sunday, Real Betis Balompie won 3-2 at CD Leganes, Sevilla lost 1-0 at home to Athletic Bilbao, Getafe won 2-1 at CA Osasuna and Rayo Vallecano drew 2-2 with Real Sociedad.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Freddie Freeman homered and drove in four runs, Shohei Ohtani also went deep and Roki Sasaki earned his first major league win as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 10-3 on Saturday night for their seventh straight victory. The Dodgers have won the first two games of the series to improve to 5-0 against Atlanta this year. Los Angeles’ three-game sweep at home early in the season left the Braves 0-7. Sasaki allowed three runs and six hits over five innings. The 23-year-old right-hander gave up a home run to Ozzie Albies, but received plenty of offensive support in his
Bayern Munich on Sunday were crowned German champions for the 34th time, giving striker Harry Kane his first major trophy, after second-placed Bayer 04 Leverkusen drew 2-2 at SC Freiburg. Bayern’s 3-3 draw at RB Leipzig on Saturday, when the Bavarians came from two goals down to take the lead before conceding a stoppage-time equalizer, meant defending Bundesliga champions Leverkusen needed to win at Freiburg to delay the title party. Leverkusen were two goals down before scoring twice in the final 10 minutes, but Xabi Alonso’s side could not find a third, as Bayern reclaimed the title at the first attempt after
THRILLER: Raphinha gave Barca a 3-2 lead with two minutes remaining of regular time, but Francesco Acerbi equalized the game in the second minute of added time Davide Frattesi on Tuesday fired Inter into the UEFA Champions League final with an extra-time winner that gave the Italians a stunning 4-3 triumph over Barcelona, 7-6 on aggregate. Italy midfielder Frattesi won a tie for the ages under a downpour in Milan when he lashed home in the 99th minute, sending a packed and rocking San Siro wild with joy. Simone Inzaghi’s team will face either Arsenal or Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this month in Munich, Germany, where they would feel they have a great chance to be crowned kings of Europe for a fourth time after
INTER AWAIT: Superb saves by PSG ’keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma inspired the victory, as Arsenal were punished for misses, including one by Bukayo Saka Arsenal on Wednesday fell short on the big stage again as their painful UEFA Champions League semi-final exit against Paris Saint-Germain left Mikel Arteta to rue his club’s failure to provide him with enough attacking options. Arteta’s side were unable to reach the Champions League final for the first time in 19 years as PSG clinched a tense 2-1 win at Parc des Princes. Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first leg in London, the Gunners made a blistering start to the second leg, but could not convert their chances as Gianluigi Donnarumma’s superb saves inspired PSG’s 3-1 aggregate victory. Arsenal were punished for
RSS