By Safiu Kehinde
Barcelona seemed to have rediscovered their momentum after a 4-2 thrashing of current La Liga champions Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou on Sunday.
The Catalan team appears to be moulding into shape under current manager, Xavi Hernandez. Weighed down by financial crisis and nightmarish performances last season, Barcelona have started pulling their acts together all thanks to their former midfielder.
With just eight minutes into the game, Atletico Madrid, unaware of the calamity set to befall them, took the lead through Yannick Carrasco. Former Barcelona forward, Luis Suarez had orchestrated a lovely through ball into the box, finding Carrasco whose low shot flew past Ter Stegen to give Los Rojiblancos the lead.
Meanwhile, the lead only lasted two minutes after Jordi Alba pulled one back for Barcelona. The build-up to the goal started after Adama Traore put Barcelona in an attacking position. The former Wolves winger lobbed a cross which was cleared by Atletico Madrid’s centre-back, Stefan Savic. Unfortunately, the clearance landed into the legs of Dani Alves who launched another crossing into the visitor’s box and volleyed into the net by Jordi Alba.
Following the equalizer, Barcelona was nothing short of a joy to watch as they took charge of the game. Adama Traore, doing what he loves doing, kept terrorizing Atletico’s defense on right wing. Eventually, Atletico Madrid succumbed to another goal after Pablo Gavira met Traore’s crossing with a header, putting Barcelona into a 2-1 lead.
Before the half-time whistle, Barcelona extended their lead. Dani Alves once again proved instrumental for the goal. The Brazilian launched a free-kick which found Gerard Pique. But the Spaniard had his header hit the crossbar. It however appeared not be a bad miss as Ronald Araujo capitalized on the rebound with a volley to make it 3-1.
Following the start of the second-half, Barcelona would not settle for less as they increased their tally to 4-1. It was Dani Alves who found the back of the net this time. A delivery by Pablo Gavira was dummied by Pedri and Ferran Torres before Alves scored a stunner.
However, Atletico Madrid managed to pull one back to reduce the humiliation. Luis Suarez picked up Jose Giminez’s header to score against his former team at the Camp Nou.
Dani Alves’ impressive performance was, however, altered after picking a red card in the 69th minute over an unsportsmanlike conduct. Reduced to 10 men, Barcelona had to be at the defensive as Atletico Madrid sought after capitalizing on the figure advantage.
However, the Blaugrana soaked in the pressure as they kept off Diego Simeone’s men till the final whistle. The win against Atletico Madrid saw Barcelona climbed into the top four with two points ahead of the fifth placed La Liga champions.
