Madrid, Jan. 9 (BNA): Barcelona moved three points clear at the top of La Liga on Sunday with a 1-0 away win over Atletico Madrid, thanks to a first-half goal from Ousmane Dembele.
Rivals and second-placed Real Madrid lost 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday, giving Barcelona a chance to seize the advantage in the league after 16 rounds, according to Reuters.
Barcelona dominated the early exchanges, pressing Atlético high in their own half and forcing them to make mistakes.
The guests scored the only goal of the match after 22 minutes when Dembele played clear inside the penalty area and sent the ball into the lower right corner.
Two minutes later, Pedri was able to enter the penalty area with goalkeeper Jan Oblak to beat him, but Nahuel Molina managed to enter and block the shot at the last moment.
The hosts began to get up at the end of the half, took possession of the ball and pushed Barcelona into a defensive position.
Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen made a decisive save three minutes before stoppage time in the first half when he passed Antoine Griezmann’s shot at full capacity.
Two minutes into stoppage time, Barcelona’s Ferran Torres and Atlético’s Stefan Savic were sent off for violent behaviour.
Atletico nearly snatched a late point four minutes into stoppage time when Griezmann fired a shot that was stopped on the line, giving the visitors the least number of wins.