Barcelona – Atlético Madrid: Barcelona Working In Binary With Another 1-0 Win (1-0)

It was Barcelona’s tenth 1-0 win of the LaLiga campaign, another narrow three points that takes them one step closer to the LaLiga title. Both teams struggled to create many chances for much of the match (before Barcelona squandered a number of simple shots), but a clinical finish from Ferran Torres was enough to separate the two sides. 

Tactical analysis and match report by Charlie Tuley

Despite having already run away with LaLiga, Barcelona have stumbled a bit in recent weeks. They have drawn their last two LaLiga matches 0-0 (against Girona and Getafe), as well as receiving a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of their eternal rivals Real Madrid in the second leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals. They entered matchday thirty with an eleven point lead over Real Madrid in league play, but they desperately needed a result against a red-hot Atlético Madrid side to regain their momentum for the final stretch of the campaign.

Andreas Christensen, Ousmane Dembélé, and Sergi Roberto were sidelined due to injuries for the match against Atlético Madrid, though Xavi did receive a massive boost with the returns of Pedri and Frenkie De Jong to the matchday squad. Marc-André ter Stegen started the match in goal, with Jules Koundé, Ronald Araújo, Marcos Alonso, and Alejandro Balde made up the back line. De Jong, Sergio Busquets, and Gavi made up Barcelona’s midfield, with Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, and Ferran Torres acting as the side’s three forwards. 

Atlético Madrid are the most in-form team in the world right now, having gone thirteen games unbeaten in LaLiga . . .