Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 2–1 in La Liga

Barcelona moved one step closer to defending their La Liga crown as Robert Lewandowski came off the bench to net a late winner in Saturday's 2-1 victory over 10-man Atletico Madrid.

Marcus Rashford had earlier got himself on the scoresheet for the Blaugrana as they moved seven points clear of Real Madrid at the top of the table following Los Blancos' loss to Mallorca earlier in the day.

Both sides created presentable chances in the early stages, as Antoine Griezmann twice failed to convert when well placed for Atletico while Fermin Lopez was first denied by Juan Musso and then poked a shot wide following brilliant play from Lamine Yamal to set him up.

Yamal himself hit the post for Barca, but Hansi Flick's side fell behind six minutes before the break when Giuliano Simeone latched onto a long ball over the top and finished confidently past Joan Garcia. The visitors weren't behind for long, however, as Rashford combined well with Dani Olmo down the left before driving a shot through Musso's body into the bottom corner.

That wasn't the end of the drama for the first half, as Nico Gonzalez was sent off in stoppage time for bringing down Yamal as the teenager drove towards goal. Atleti, however, thought the numbers had been evened up seconds after the break when Gerard Martin caught Thiago Almada high on his ankle and was shown a red card, only for VAR to overturn the decision.

Given their numerical advantage, Barcelona dominated the second period, and substitute Ferran Torres was twice denied by superb saves from Musso. Atletico defended their penalty area bravely, but they couldn't hold out as Musso could only parry Joao Cancelo's shot onto Lewandowski's shoulder, from which it looped into the net.

Source: Goal.com