Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona live score, stats, highlights, result, talking points as Lewandowski gives Barca vital late lead

Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona live score, stats, highlights, result, talking points as Lewandowski gives Barca vital late lead originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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• Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona score
• Highlights, key moments
• Upcoming games for both sides

Barcelona will try to drive home their advantage at the top of La Liga when they travel to the capital to face Atletico Madrid on Saturday.

Hansi Flick’s reigning champions have a four-point advantage over Real Madrid and can make that seven with eight games to go after Los Blancos went down to a dramatic 2-1 defeat at Real Mallorca earlier in the day.

Atleti’s faint title hopes were effectively ended by their 3-2 defeat in the Madrid derby prior to the international break. A 13-point advantage over fifth-placed Real Betis means Atletico are virtually assured of a top-four spot too.

This game is the first of three matches between the clubs in the space of 11 days after they were paired together in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. As such, both starting line-ups featured elements of rotation from Flick and his opposite number, Diego Simeone.

Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona score

Starting lineups:

Atletico Madrid (4-4-2, right to left): Musso (GK) — Molina, Lenglet, Le Normand, Gonzalez — Simeone, Vargas, Koke, Baena — Griezmann, Almada

Barcelona (4-2-3-1 right to left): Joan Garcia (GK) — Araujo, Cubarsi, Martin, Cancelo — Pedri, Eric Garcia — Lamine Yamal, Lopez, Olmo — Rashford

Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona highlights, key incidents

87 mins: LEWANDOWSKI SURELY WINS IT FOR BARCA! Cancelo twists and turns just inside the penalty area to the left. He fires towards goal, Musso pushes his attempt away and Lewandowski turns his shoulder into the ball to find an improvised finish.

69 mins: Fabulous save from Musso! Barca, with the man advantage, are battering their opponents further and further back. Their 

49 mins: NO RED CARD! DOWNGRADED TO A YELLOW! Martin gets a reprieve, following a pitchside review. As you can imagine, that’s gone down incredibly well with the locals.

46 mins: RED CARD! IT’S 10 vs. 10! Gerard Martin follows through in a challenge by plunging his studs into Almada’s ankle. Oh, hang on, we’re off to VAR…

45_5 mins: VAR CONFUSION! Right, so a lot went on there. After the offside check, there was a check to see whether the foul was in the penalty area. It was not, however the referee decided Gonzalez denied a clear goalscoring opportunity so upgraded his second yellow to a straight red. Then, from the resulting free-kick, Bernal reeeaaallly should have put Barcelona ahead.

45+2 mins: RED CARD! Nicolas Gonzalez is sent off! It’s not so long since Atletico were winning this game. Now they’re pegged back and down to 10 men. Gonzalez was already on a yellow card when he bolted after a rampaging Lamine Yamal and clattered into the Barca winger. 

But hang on… we’re checked to see whether Lamine was offside. If he was, the red card will be overturned… Nope, he’s walking.

42 mins: Rashford levels in quicktime! Barca almost instantly back on terms and that’s some vintage Marcus Rashford as he comes in off the left flank, exchanges passes with Dani Olmo and slides a finish through Musso’s legs. That’s Rashford’s 11th goal of the season and first since January.

40 mins: Giuliano Simeone makes it 1-0 to Atletico! A proud father celebrates on the touchline as Giuliano springs a flimsy offside trap to smash past Joan Garcia. To compound matters for Barca, Ronald Araujo is injured and makes way for Marc Bernal.

34 mins: Lamine Yamal hits the posts! Glorious interplay from Fermin Lopez and Pedri as the latter releases Lamine Yamal. The winger lifts a deft finish against the upright.

Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona talking points, analysis

Talking points and analysis will be added after full-time.

Real Madrid vs. Atletico Madrid upcoming schedules

Atletico Madrid upcoming fixtures

Barcelona upcoming fixtures