Atletico Madrid on Wednesday scored twice after Barcelona were reduced to 10 men to earn a valuable 2-0 road win and take the advantage in their UEFA Champions League quarter-final.
A superb free-kick by Julian Alvarez and a goal by Alexander Sorloth gave Diego Simeone his first win at the Camp Nou since Atletico’s long-standing coach started his stint with the club 15 years ago.
“I don’t think my Atleti had ever won at Camp Nou,” said Simeone, whose Atletico had won at Barcelona when they played at the Olympic Stadium in 2024, but never at the Camp Nou.
Photo: EPA
“They’re arguably the best team in Europe, along with Paris [Saint-Germain] and Bayern [Munich]. Through good teamwork, we were able to capitalize on key moments in the match.”
Barcelona had hemmed Atletico into their box when the hosts received a double blow that left Hansi Flick’s team down a man and behind a goal just before halftime.
The game-changing sequence started when Atletico’s Giuliano Simeone broke free to latch onto a rare long-ball and Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi knocked him down on the edge of the area with only goalkeeper Joan Garcia to beat. After initially showing Cubarsi a yellow card, the referee changed it to a red following a video review.
It got worse for Barcelona seconds later when Alvarez curled the resulting free-kick around the defensive barrier and past a flying Garcia for the 45th-minute lead.
Lamine Yamal and Marcus Rashford tried to rally Barcelona and kept the pressure on Atletico, despite being undermanned.
However, the fightback effort was undone when substitute Sorloth shrugged off a challenge by Gerard Martin as he moved to the near post and tapped in a cross from Matteo Ruggeri to double the lead with 20 minutes to play.
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