Madrid, October 4 (BNA): Former Barcelona striker Luis Suarez caused more misery for his old team as Atlético Madrid scored a 2-0 victory in La Liga at the Wanda Metropolitano.
First-half goals from Thomas Lemar and Suarez were enough for the champions to collect the three points and increase the pressure on visiting coach Ronald Koeman, Reuters reported.
Barcelona have won just one of their last six matches in all competitions as their struggles showed no sign of abating at the start of the season.
“We are suffering and I will be honest with you,” Barcelona defender Gerard Pique said.
“We started well, we were brave, but then they made two identical positions and scored two goals – when we could play for three hours and not score.
“This is not one problem, there are many. People can see what we lack. But we will recover. It is tough times, and many of us have not experienced this before. We want to change it but it is not easy.”
Atletico started the match brighter and came close through the efforts of Lemar and Joao Felix from the edge of the penalty area before the Frenchman opened the scoring in the 23rd minute.
Felix fed Suarez, who played a fine ball around the corner to send Lemar across and smashed his effort past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Suarez then missed a superb opportunity to double the lead moments later as he miscalculated in a one-on-one show, but made no mistake in the first half after Lemar hit back in the favour.
Barcelona’s best chance of getting back into the match fell on Philippe Coutinho, but the Brazilian’s taming effort was comforted by Jan Oblak.
The victory raised Atlético’s level with leaders Real Madrid, who travel to rival Barcelona Espanyol, on Sunday, with 17 points from eight matches.
Meanwhile, Barcelona is ninth with 12 points having played a game less.