FOOTBALL Late goal saves Barcelona

Atletico Madrid was able to contain Lionel Messi and yet still couldn’t top Barcelona in the Spanish league on Saturday.

Atletico was a few minutes away from ending a seven-year winless streak against Barcelona in the league until Luis Suarez produced an 82nd-minute equalizer for 1-1.

Suarez had been ineffective at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium before his late header that extended Barcelona’s unbeaten streak against Atletico to 15 league matches.

Atletico did a decent job stopping Messi after his starring role to put Argentina in the World Cup. He has 14 goals in 12 matches with Barcelona but was unable to score at the Metropolitano. His best chance was a second-half free kick that hit the post.

The playmaker, coming off a long trip from Ecuador for Argentina’s qualifier, had arrived with 27 goals in 34 matches against Atletico in all competitions.

“He certainly wasn’t as tired as most people thought he would be because he played a tremendous match,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said of Messi. “We defended well, just couldn’t put the game away on the counterattacks.”

The result ended Barcelona’s perfect league record and cut the club’s lead to five points over Real Madrid, which defeated Getafe 2-1 with a late winner by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Atletico stayed in third place, six points behind Barcelona, which won its first seven league matches. /