Diego Simeone secures first Atletico Madrid La Liga win over Barcelona

Atletico Madrid have stretched their unbeaten start to the 2020/21 La Liga season to eight games with a 1-0 win at home to title rivals Barcelona.

Yannick Carrasco’s first half goal was enough to secure all three points for Diego Simeone’s hosts, in his first ever La Liga win over the Catalans, as the Belgian international benefitted from a huge error from Marc Ter Stegen.

Gerard Pique gifted possession to Koke and the Spaniard sent Carrasco behind the La Blaugrana defence, but Ter Stegen’s attempted clearance failed, and Carrasco latched onto the loose ball to slot into an empty net from 40 yards.

Atletico had the better chances to score in the opening 45 minutes, as Ter Stegen produced a fine stop from Saul Niguez and Marcos Llorente fired against the bar.

Barcelona did look to gain a foothold in the game after the restart, but Clement Lenglet wasted their best chance as his tame header was comfortably saved by Jan Oblak.

Ronald Koeman’s disappointing night went from bad to worse as his side failed to really create anything in the closing stages to trouble Atletico, and Pique and Sergi Roberto hobbled off injured.

Image via Atletico Madrid CF on Twitter

Tags Marc Ter Stegen Marcos Llorente Saul Niguez Yannick Carrasco
La Liga - Club News