Barcelona held 2-all 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.
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 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.
● Oliver Torres scored a brace as Sevilla eased to a 3-0 at relegationthreatened Legane´s to strengthen their hold on fourth place.
● 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.
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.
—AP