MADRID — Barça went from disaster to resurrection in the blink of an eye, and to a heroic and spectacular victory in stoppage time. From 2-0 in the 70th minute to 2-2 in the 78th… And then to the madness of stoppage time, with Lamine Yamal’s shot fatally deflected by Reinildo to bury Atlético and fire the blaugrana back, who still had time to score a 4-2 lead and also beat Atlético on goal average.
When things were at their worst, the Catalan team survived thanks to a superb goal from Lewandowski. And that 2-1 result gave them wings. All this after 70 minutes of disheartening and tragic defeat, after a first half that was illogical and a continuation that was expected and strange. Until that explosive finale.
Barça wanted more, but Atlético resisted the onslaught in a first half with hardly any chances, a result of Barça desperation and Atlético fortune, with a goal just before halftime in the only opportunity they had against the poor accuracy and less patience of Flick’s men.
At times, Barça seemed to be in a state of urgency to win, and they must have imagined a physical and emotional fatigue that Simeone’s team managed to hide very well. They suffered from the electricity of Lamine Yamal and little else in that first half, with more expectation than play.
The young Barça star came close to scoring in the fifth minute with a shot that went just wide of the post and Oblak responded to a Lewandowski header in the 15th minute while Szczesny was barely a spectator who only responded, very well, in the 22nd minute against Gio Simeone… In a play disallowed for offside.
At times Atlético went toe-to-toe and at others they retreated to their own half, patient and collected, to the despair of a Barça whose dominance was somewhere between false and inconsistent… And yet they had the golden opportunity to go into the break with a lead, but Lewandowski, strangely hasty, shot the ball over, just missing the crossbar.
The luck that had been denied Barça, incomprehensibly, embraced Atlético immediately afterward, with Griezmann breaking the offside trap to cross low, and Gio Simeone deceiving Julián Álvarez with his assist, who was unforgiving.
Atlético had had one, just one
… And they scored. And both teams headed into the locker room, some with a sense of suppressed euphoria and others with quiet anger, before a second half worthy of the high stakes.
It turns out that LaLiga is insisting this season on not facilitating a premature resolution and instead on keeping its contenders alive and hopeful. Simeone hinted in the build-up that a Barça victory would practically eliminate them from the fight, but if a home win would completely shut everything down, a draw wouldn’t be any less important. That’s how the second half unfolded.
And from there, everything went completely crazy. Atlético, with the advantage, sat back, looking to seal the victory with a counterattack, while Barça kept trying… but couldn’t. And then something unexpected happened: Another positioning error in the offside zone gave Gallagher the clue, and his cross was headed into the net by Sorloth, the usual Barça executioner.
If Flick’s team seemed shattered, Lewandowski immediately rebuilt them with a superb finish that reduced the deficit. And not long after, century-old Ferran Torres appeared to equalize. The unexpected had happened, setting the match on course for an electrifying finish.
It seemed, falsely, that the draw was a lesser evil for both sides until the magic of Lamine Yamal appeared in added time, helped by Reinildo’s back but giving justice to Barça’s greater merits… And with everything decided, Ferran delivered the final blow.
2-4. A comeback never to be forgotten in LaLiga history.