Barcelona have lost their spot at the top of the La Liga table thanks to a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat against Atlético Madrid at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Saturday night. Barça were by far the better team from start to finish and created more than enough chances to win their last game of 2024 against Diego Simeone's side, but once again lacked efficiency in front of goal and were made to pay a heavy price thanks to Alexander Sorloth's 96th minute winner.
FIRST HALF
Hansi Flick designed a great gameplan for the opening period as Barça came out in an old-school 4-3-3 formation with both wingers playing high and wide to stretch Atlético's defense, while also passing the ball quickly through the lines to find Raphinha and Fermín López isolated against the full-backs to send crosses into the box or find players through the middle to create chances.
The intensity out of possession also forced the visitors to give the ball away quickly, and that strategy led Barça to playing their best half of football in quite a while. The Blaugrana were intense, purposeful and efficient with and without the ball, and the Colchoneros were on the ropes from the opening whistle having to deal with plenty of shots and pressure from the home team.
Atlético's great defensive structure held up pretty well for a half-hour, but a moment of individual brilliance finally unlocked them: Pedri went on an amazing solo run down the left channel, played a wonderful one-two with Gavi at the edge of the box, and passed the ball into the far corner to put the home team in front with a beautiful goal.
The visitors tried to respond after going behind but couldn't find a way to break through Barça's offside trap, and Iñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí made good interventions in the few moments where Atleti offered any kind of threat. The Catalans were quite comfortable at the back throughout the period, and still had their clean sheet intact when the final whistle sounded.
Barça were ahead at the break thanks to a great team performance but had a narrow lead and Atlético couldn't possibly play any worse, so there was still work to do in the second half to secure the three points.
SECOND HALF
Barça continued to dominate to begin the final period, causing plenty of issues with their high pressing and creating two monster chances to double their lead before the hour mark, but Fermín missed an easy one-on-one with Jan Oblak and Raphinha was really unlucky when his attempted lob over the keeper hit the crossbar and didn't go in.
Soon after missing those opportunities the hosts were made to pay for their lack of efficiency, as Atlético went on a counter-attack and Marc Casadó's poor attempted clearance on a cross by Julián Álvarez put the ball perfectly on the path of Rodrigo De Paul, who found the bottom corner and equalized against the run of play to bring Atleti back into the game.
Barça made two attacking changes shortly after the goal as Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres came off the bench, while Diego Simeone countered with several defensive alterations to change his team's formation to a 5-3-2 designed to frustrate the Blaugrana attack and find a winner on the counter with the pace of Álvarez and substitute Alexander Sorloth.
The visitors almost took the lead with 15 minutes to go when Casadó gave the ball away inside his own half and Pablo Barrios found himself one-on-one with Iñaki Peña, but Barça's goalkeeper made a brilliant foot save to keep his team in the game and set up a wild finish.
Barça blitzed Atlético in the dying minutes and created huge chances, and that's when Oblak came to life as the goalkeeper made monster save after monster save to keep his team alive, including two one-on-ones against Raphinha and Pedri.
The Catalans kept pushing for the winner, but instead found themselves on the losing side at the very end: Atlético went on the counter in the 96th minute, Nahuel Molina timed his run perfectly to beat the offside trap, and played a perfect cross to find Sorloth who won it with a brilliant finish.
The final whistle came shortly after, and Barça's year ends in heartbreaking fashion. This game would have ended in a Barça victory nine times out of 10 given how much they dominated and how many really clear chance they created, but their finishing issues continue and Atlético were clinical went it mattered most.
This one really, really hurts.
Barcelona: Peña; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Balde; Gavi (Ferran 64'), Casadó (Eric 80'), Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Fermín (Olmo 64')
Goal: Pedri (30')
Atlético: Oblak; Llorente (Le Normand 73'), Giménez (Witsel 52'), Lenglet, Galán; Simeone (Molina 62'), De Paul, Barrios, Gallagher (Koke 62'); Griezmann (Sorloth 73'), Álvarez