Barcelona dominated Atletico Madrid 4-2 at the Nou Camp on Saturday afternoon to move into fourth place in LaLiga.
Within the first eight minutes, Belgium international Yannick Carrasco gave the visitors the lead.Jordi Alba scored a tremendous volley that left Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak with no chance inside 10 minutes, putting Atletico up for only two minutes.
Following a cross by new player Adama Traore, who was making his debut, Gavi put the hosts ahead with a thundering header.
Dani Alves ensured the points by slamming the ball past the Slovenian shot-stopper inside 49 minutes as the Catalan giants ran riot. Ronaldo Araujo added another, beating Oblak from close range to make it 3-1.
Atletico put up a fight, with Luis Suarez, a former Barcelona player, scoring a consolation goal on 58 minutes, but it wasn’t enough to launch a comeback.
With 20 minutes remaining, Alves was sent off for a stamp on the back of Carrasco’s leg after VAR intervened, considering the challenge serious foul play, but Barca held on to secure all three points.
Barcelona’s 4-2 victory over defending champions Atletico Madrid is a major step forward for the Xavi era.
Xavi has shown hints of being able to return the team to title contention in the coming seasons if given time and support as coach.
In his last three games in the Top 5 European leagues, Adama Traoré has been involved in two goals (1 goal, 1 assist), which is more than he had in his previous 25 appearances (1 goal, 1 assist).
The xG value of Jordi Alba’s goal against Atlético de Madrid was 0.05. In reality, Barcelona had the greatest disparity between goals achieved and projected goals in the first half of any team this season in all competitions (2.45).
After Donato, Jorge Molina, and Joaqun, Barcelona’s Dani Alves has become the fourth oldest player to score in LaLiga in the twenty-first century.
Luis Suárez of Atletico Madrid has broken his worst drought of not scoring in the Top 5 European Leagues (8 games, also between May and December 2014).
Dani Alves has been the first Barcelona player since at least the 2004/05 season to score, assist, and receive a red card in a single LaLiga match.
For the third time in a single LaLiga game under Diego Pablo Simeone, Atlético de Madrid has conceded four or more goals, the first time since December 2012, also against Barcelona in Simeone’s first game at Camp Nou (4-1).
