It had to be him. Barcelona inflicted Atlético Madrid’s first league defeat at the Metropolitano in over a year and the man who hurt them was João Félix, because of course he was.
The most expensive transfer in Atlético history, the striker who still belongs to them but is desperate to never return and whose return would not be welcome; The man who went on loan to Barcelona and scored the only goal in the last match between the two teams, who jumped on the billboards in Montjuïc in December and blew kisses to his former fans; The man who blew the whistle every time he touched the ball on his first return trip scored the opening goal. This time he didn’t celebrate as he promised, but it still hurt.
This first-half strike was followed by goals from the superb Robert Lewandowski, who made one and two in the second half, and Fermín López scored a 3-0 win to send Barcelona into second place, eight points clear of the top. Diego Simeone’s team is out of the Champions League.
Relating to: Barcelona’s João Félix takes revenge with the only goal of the game to beat Atletico Madrid
“Why can’t we dream of the league?” said Xavi. The Barcelona manager also said it was clear that Félix should start on Sunday despite only playing 60% of the minutes this season. After all, he was “extra motivated”; He wanted to be determined and he was. Félix has now scored nine goals and provided five assists as a Barcelona player and would love the chance to continue in Catalonia.
It was all over late in the second half when Félix was withdrawn and booed; Atlético’s promising start was long forgotten and their record shattered. They had collected 40 of a possible 42 points at the Metropolitano; But this time, they showed no reaction when the Portuguese left the first jersey in front of fans who, like him, hoped he would never play again. His plaque outside the stadium was trashed before the match. Some fans burned his shirt.
After all, Barcelona had acted too well and too coolly, which did not seem possible at the beginning. Barcelona failed to take control of the game in the first half hour, seeing midfielder Andreas Christensen withdraw from the game after warming up. Unable to control the ball in midfield, Marc André ter Stegen tried to slot the ball straight through the goal to find Lewandowski at the other end. At that point, Barcelona’s best four passes all came from Ter Stegen. So, it must be said that he did his worst; Pablo Barrios put the ball out five minutes later with his weak shot.
Whistles were heard every time Félix touched the ball, and at this point this mainly served to highlight the fact that he very rarely touched the ball. By the 30th minute, his total was just five and he was not an extraordinary player in the Barcelona squad. Atletico was in the front row.
Rodrigo Riquleme, Álvaro Morata and Nahuel Molina combined for the Argentine to cut in for the blocked shot. Samuel Lino received the ball sent to the penalty area by Morata, whom he could not control. Then a slick exchange saw Molina escape down the right. His ball to Lino was missed but the Brazilian collected the ball and looked for Morata at the near post, forcing the impressive 17-year-old Pau Cubarsi to make a fierce tackle.
But Atlético lacked precision, particularly in the timing of Morata’s runs, and the momentum soon slipped away, and rather suddenly. Within three minutes Barcelona had created more than 10 goals and if Félix’s touches had been few, his would have been the most decisive of them all.
Before arriving, Lewandowski turned to the far post to deliver a cross, allowing Raphinha to go slightly forward, and Cubarsi curled a wonderful long pass, allowing López to make a sharp save from Jan Oblak. The Portuguese then made a neat move to open the scoring.
Relating to: Robert Lewandowski adds the finishing touch as Barcelona push Napoli aside
İlkay Gündoğan evaded two opponents and found Lewandowski with a superb pass, who pulled the ball back for Félix to head home. This time there was no splashing onto the billboards, just a slight hop from one foot to the other and soon he was out of sight among his teammates, which might not be a bad thing. López pointed at him, but Félix said he would not celebrate the goal and did not point at anyone.
Morata had a chance to equalize but was beaten and pulled back at half-time with Memphis Depay and Antoine Griezmann coming on. Meanwhile, Xavi was expelled again. But almost immediately the difference doubled. In the first minute of the second period, a mistake from Rodrigo de Paul gifted the ball to Raphinha, who allowed Lewandowski to score with a clean, low shot.
Atlético chased, Ter Stegen pulling off an outstanding double save from Marcos Llorente and Depay, but it only got worse for the home side. The move, clarified by Gündoğan, led to Lewandowski passing to López alone in front of the goal and scoring the third goal. At the end of the night, Félix changed shirts and headed towards the tunnel, where his former teammates and staff were waiting to embrace him. “They know what happened; people outside can’t understand that, so I understand,” Félix said. “Maybe I’m not the bad guy.”