- Joao Felix scored in the first half to secure a hard-fought 1-0 home win
- The Portuguese scored with a beautiful finish on Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak
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Yoao Felix took sweet revenge on Diego Simeone who scored the only goal of the match as Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0.
Simeone has suffered a Nou Camp curse during his 11 years at Madrid, having never beaten Barcelona away from home.
If he thought that the match played outside Barcelona’s old stadium could end that miserable run, he was wrong and it was the player he never made a secret of wanting out of the club , who did that for him and his team.
Joao Felix has a contract with Atletico Madrid until 2029. They hope he will play well enough for Barcelona that the Catalan club will decide to buy him next summer – it was just not in the plan for him to score against them.
It wasn’t all about Joao Felix, Barcelona’s stand-in keeper Inaki Pena was excellent in the second half, making two saves to prevent a late equalizer for Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona’s Joao Felix scored in the first half to secure a hard-fought 1-0 home win
The Portuguese scored nicely from a counterattack against goalkeeper Jan Oblak
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Barcelona played like the champions they are – and no one has been able to say that too often this season. Robert Lewandowski should have given them an early lead, but he blasted one effort wide and headed away another chance, perhaps thinking he was in an offside position.
Atletico Madrid failed to get a single shot on target in the first period, but not for lack of trying. Simeone’s side are scoring more goals than ever since he took over. The team was swamped in midfield by Ikay Gundogan, who had his best game in a Barca shirt since leaving Manchester City. Frenkie de Jong was also fantastic, as was a revitalized Pedri who looked back to his best post-injury.
Barcelona also dominated defensively with Jules Kounde, the reluctant but highly effective right-back, and Ronaldo Araujo imperious in the center of defense alongside Andreas Christensen, called up very late after Iñigo Martinez was injured in the warm-up.
Joao Felix’s goal came after 28 minutes. Raphinha played him in and he escaped Nahuel Molina before setting up Jan Oblak to score.
Would he celebrate? Of course he would. He stood on the billboard and opened his arms to the Barcelona supporters.
‘The party was spontaneous. It was just my relief after everything I had to go through during the summer. The people around me know what I’ve been through.’ he said afterwards.
He spent most of the game drawing fouls from former teammates. Cesar Azpilicueta came on during the break and was shown a yellow card for his first challenge on Joao Felix. There were early cards for Jose Gimenez and Axel Witsel as they struggled to cope with Barcelona.
Barcelona’s stand-in goalkeeper Inaki Pena made two excellent saves in the second half
Simeone made three substitutions at half-time and Atletico tightened the screw late on when Peña came into his own. Memphis came on with 25 minutes to go and his thunderous free-kick found the roof of the net, but the 24-year-old, making only his second league start of the season, pushed the shot onto the crossbar.
There was another chance for Atletico to equalize, but again they could not beat Pena. Another substitute had the chance, but with a strong outstretched arm he knocked away Angel Correa’s shot.
Barcelona played out the time without too many fears and is three points ahead of Atletico Madrid, who still have a game in hand.
For Simeone it was a case of another stadium, same old story: another defeat to Barcelona, and this time at the hands of their backup goalkeeper and a striker he demanded to be loaned out this summer.
