He had to be the one to do it. Barcelona caused Atlético Madrid to suffer their first league loss at the Metropolitano in over a year, and the one who caused the pain was João Félix, for obvious reasons.
The most expensive signing in Atlético’s history, the forward who still belongs to them but is desperate never to go back and who would not be welcomed back either; the man who went to Barcelona on loan and scored the only goal when these two teams last met, leaping on to the advertising boards at Montjuïc and blowing his former fans a kiss in December; the man who was whistled every time he touched the ball on his first trip back, scored the opening goal. He did not celebrate this time, just as he had promised, but it still stung.
The opening goal in the first half was matched by two goals in the second from the exceptional Robert Lewandowski, who scored one and assisted on two, and Fermín López as Barcelona earned a 3-0 win, propelling them into second place and eight points behind the leaders. This result also pushes Diego Simeone’s team out of the Champions League positions.
Xavi expressed his desire for the team to aim for the league title. The manager of Barcelona further addressed Félix’s playing time this season, stating that he must start on Sunday despite only playing 60% of minutes. He noted that Félix was highly motivated and proved to be a determining factor for the team. As a Barcelona player, Félix has achieved nine goals and five assists, and he eagerly hopes to continue his career in Catalonia.
Felix was taken out of the game in the second half, receiving booing from the crowd. By this point, Atlético’s strong start had been overshadowed and their perfect record at the Metropolitano was lost. They had previously earned 40 out of a possible 42 points at this stadium, but this time they were unable to recover after Felix scored the first goal in front of the fans who were hoping he would leave the team. Prior to the game, his plaque outside the stadium had been vandalized and some fans had even burned his jersey.
In the end, Barcelona proved to be too strong and precise, which was unexpected at the beginning. In the first 30 minutes, Barcelona struggled to gain control of the game without their regular deep midfielder, Andreas Christensen, who had to withdraw during warmups. To compensate for the lack of possession in midfield, Marc André ter Stegen resorted to launching long passes to Robert Lewandowski at the opposite end. Interestingly, the four most successful passes by Barcelona were all made by Ter Stegen. However, he also made a mistake that resulted in Pablo Barrios missing a shot by a close margin just five minutes into the game.
Each time Félix made contact with the ball, there were jeers from the crowd. This only emphasized the fact that he had very few opportunities to touch the ball. By the time the 30th minute came around, he had only touched the ball five times, and he was not the only player on the Barcelona team with low involvement. Atlético Madrid was dominating the game.
Rodrigo Riquelme, Álvaro Morata, and Nahuel Molina worked together to allow the Argentinian team to advance into a position for a shot, but it was ultimately blocked. Samuel Lino passed the ball into the area for Morata, but he was unable to handle it. Then, Molina made a smooth move to break away on the right side. He crossed the ball to Lino, but it was too strong, yet Lino was able to retrieve it. He then looked for Morata near the goalpost, but the impressive 17-year-old Pau Cubarsi made a quick intervention.
Unfortunately, Atlético struggled with accuracy, particularly in the timing of Morata’s runs, causing a sudden loss of momentum. In a span of three minutes, Barcelona produced more opportunities than they had in ten times that. While Félix had limited involvement, his touches proved to be the most impactful.
Prior to its arrival, Lewandowski had delivered a floating cross towards the back post which Raphinha narrowly missed with his header. Cubarsi also executed a brilliant long pass that allowed López to test Jan Oblak with a swift save. Afterwards, the Portuguese player concluded a skillful play to give his team the lead.
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Ilkay Gündogan easily maneuvered around two opponents and made an excellent pass to Lewandowski. He then passed it back to Félix who cleanly scored. Instead of celebrating by jumping onto the advertising boards, Félix simply hopped on one foot before being lost in a group of teammates, which perhaps was for the best. Although López pointed in his direction, Félix had previously stated he would not celebrate a goal and did not single out anyone.
Morata missed an opportunity to tie the game and was substituted at the break, while Depay and Griezmann entered the game. Xavi received yet another red card. Shortly after, the lead was extended when de Paul’s mistake allowed Raphinha to pass to Lewandowski who scored with a precise, low shot in the first minute of the second half.
Atlético aggressively pursued a goal, with Ter Stegen making an impressive save from Marcos Llorente and Depay. However, things took a turn for the worse for the home team. A well-executed play by Gündogan allowed Lewandowski to pass to an unmarked López, who headed in the third goal. As the evening came to an end, Félix exchanged jerseys and left through the tunnel, where former colleagues and staff were waiting to greet him. “They know the truth, but those on the outside do not, so I can see where they’re coming from,” Félix stated. “I may not be the villain in this situation.”
Source: theguardian.com
