MADRID — Barcelona stayed top of La Liga on Sunday, Fermín López scoring twice in a 2-1 comeback win over Atlético Madrid at the Metropolitano, according to FC Barcelona.
It left Flick’s team on 33 points from 12 matches. Real Madrid, 3-0 winners over Valencia on Saturday, sit second on 30 points, and Atlético are third, five points behind Barcelona, on 28.
Atlético started at a frantic pace. Joan García denied Julián Álvarez when the forward was clean through inside the first seven minutes, Marc Pubill then headed against the crossbar, and Pedri hit the woodwork at the other end.
Atlético strike first, Fermín replies
The hosts went ahead in the 10th minute. Kang-in Lee found Álvarez on a swift counterattack, and Álvarez supplied the pass for Giuliano Simeone to finish first time past García.
Barcelona took more of the ball after that, with Lamine Yamal causing problems down the right, but Álvarez remained a threat on the break and the visitors still trailed as halftime approached.
Pedri changed that in the 45th minute. He drove through the middle, and Fermín scored at the second attempt, a left-footed finish across Jan Oblak that sent the teams in level at 1-1.
“Things got difficult in the first half, but we managed to turn it around and played a great match,”
“We weren’t quite at our sharpest, but the goal helped us feel more at ease,” Fermín added.
Yamal sets up the winner
Flick sent on Frenkie de Jong at right-back for Brian Fariñas at halftime, and Barcelona pressed higher and began to dictate the tempo. Álvarez twice failed to make the most of promising openings for Atlético.
The winner came in the 66th minute. Yamal threaded a pass into Fermín’s path inside the area, and the midfielder met it first time to beat Oblak for his second goal of the night.
It was the 23-year-old Spain international’s seventh league goal in 11 appearances this season. Barcelona finished with 63% of the possession and 19 shots to Atlético’s nine, though both sides managed four shots on target.
Flick rated the importance of the win at 10 out of 10. “We were too far from the opponent, so it was not easy to get pressure on the ball,” he said. “This was what we did better in the second half. The first was not so perfect, but the second was good and I think we deserved the win.”
There was also playing time for two players back from injury. Andreas Christensen replaced João Cancelo on the hour, and Eric García came on with Gavi in the 74th minute.
Atlético coach Diego Simeone said he had no complaints about his team’s performance. “I have nothing to complain about, we played the match we wanted to play,” he told reporters, while captain Koke pointed to the missed first-half chances. “We had chances to kill off the game and we didn’t take them,” Koke said.
The defeat was Atlético’s first in La Liga since Sept. 5. Barcelona go into the international break as leaders, and Fermín later told club media the result answered the defeats by Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid last month. “We knew the fans were a bit disappointed with the two defeats, but we’ve made a statement,” he said.
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