Barcelona held by Atletico
Messie scores his 700th career goal for club, country
Lionel Messi scored his 700th career goal for club and country before Atletico Madrid came back to draw 2-all in the Spanish league yesterday and deal Barcelona’s title hopes a major blow.
Barcelona’s third draw in four rounds left them in second place, one point behind leaders Real Madrid.
Madrid host Getafe tomorrow with a chance to open up a four-point lead with five matches remaining.
Barcelona were two points ahead of Madrid when the league was halted in March because of the coronavirus outbreak.
While Madrid have won five of five since the resumption after a threemonth stoppage, Barcelona have won only three of six. The pressure is increasing on coach Quique Setie´n, who took over the team in midseason with the task of rekindling its attacking spirit.
“It is too bad because we keep dropping points and getting further and further away from the title,” Setie´n said. “But we have to keep fighting.”
Barcelona struck first in the 11th minute when Atle´tico striker Diego Costa inadvertently redirected a corner by Messi into his own net.
Costa’s night got worse shortly after when his penalty was blocked by Marc-andre ter Stegen. Atle´tico, however, got to retake the spot kick when a video review determined that the Barcelona goalkeeper had moved off his line too early.
Sau´ l N˜ ´ıguez stepped up instead of Costa for the second attempt and converted to level the score in the 19th.
Messi restored the host’s lead in 56th by coolly scoring a penalty in the “Panenka” style, chipping it softly past goalie Jan Oblak. The goal was Messi’s 630th club goal to go with 70 for his Argentina. It was also his league-leading 22nd goal of the season.
Atle´tico responded again through the speed of forward Yannick Carrasco, who was tripped by Nelson Semedo and sent Sau´l back to the spot. Ter Stegen got a hand on his penalty but not enough to keep it out.
Diego Simeone’s Atle´ tico remained undefeated in the six matches since the competition resumed. They stayed in third place, 12 points behind Madrid.
Simeone left forward Joa˜ o Fe´ lix on the bench until the second half in favour of the in-form midfielder
Marcos Llorente, who is thriving in support of the attack.
Llorente led the attack early on, but Carrasco with his speed on the left flank proved to be the visitors’ biggest weapon. Twice the Belgian forward burst into the box on a counterattack and was taken down by late tackles from Arturo Vidal and Semedo.
“Carrasco came back from the stoppage in better shape, and is now back to playing at his best level,” Simeone said about his forward, who is in his second stint with the club.
Setie´n opted for leaving Messi and Luis Sua´ rez alone up front and adding an extra midfielder in youngster Riqui Puig, keeping forwards Antoine Griezmann and Ansu Fati on the bench. Puig had one of his best performances for Barcelona, showing his passing and ball control skills as he linked up well with Messi and his other teammates.
Barcelona are not blowing out rivals like they used to, but its main problem is their failure to protect leads. They also went ahead twice at Celta Vigo on Sunday only to concede twice to draw 2-all.
“All the games that are left are super important and all points we drop hurt our chances,” the 20-yearold Puig said after his second straight start. “The other day the same thing happened, they were able to fight back in games we were winning thanks to our silly mistake or lapses in concentration.”
Messi helped put Barcelona ahead when he struck a corner low and hard at the near post, where Costa tried to clear it but instead let it hit the inside of his leg. The ball bounced off the turf and left Oblak no chance.
Before his penalty, Messi almost curled in a shot from the right side that came inches from bending into the far corner of the goal.
Barcelona’s best chance to get the winner came from Vidal, who fired a shot just by the post with 20 minutes to go.
● Oliver Torres scored a brace as Sevilla eased to a 3-0 at relegationthreatened Legane´s to strengthen their hold on fourth place and the last Champions League spot.
● Mallorca’s 5-1 rout of Celta Vigo rekindled their hopes of avoiding relegation.
Mallorca’s biggest victory of the season moved them into 18th place, five points behind Celta, who are clinging to safety in 17th place.
Fernandes on target
Bruno Fernandes scored twice to lead Manchester United to a 3-0 victory over Brighton yesterday as they maintained their push for Champions League qualification.
The 25-year-old January signing has now scored in two of the three Premier League games since the season resumed after the threemonth pandemic-enforced suspension.
United took the lead in the 16th minute when Mason Greenwood broke inside from the right and outfoxed his marker before firing in his sixth goal of the league campaign.
Fernandes then curled a free kick over the bar before turning home the second goal from the edge of the box in the 29th minute after being teed up by Paul Pogba. Brighton players argued that the ball had gone out of play but the goal was allowed.
Fernandes was on target again five minutes into the second half
Nemanja Matic played a long ball for Greenwood to collect in space, and his deep cross was finished off emphatically by Fernandes, bouncing off the ground past goalkeeper Mat Ryan.
“It was a good job from Paul,” Fernandes said. “In the first goal, the ball came back for me, he knows I will be there to shoot. And the second goal was an amazing assist from Mason, an amazing pass, and I did a good shot.
“Of course I am really happy for my goals, but I’m more happy for the result because the team deserves this and we are fighting for the place in the Champions League and we know we can achieve this.”
United moved back into fifth place, which will secure Champions League qualification if second-placed Manchester City’s two-season European ban is upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Brighton are six points above the relegation zone with six games remaining. —AP