Atletico 0-1 Barcelona: Dembele the match winner at the Metropolitano
The French winger scored the only goal of the game to seal a hard-fought win
Ousmane Dembele's goal earned Barcelona three massive points as they beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 at the Metropolitano on Sunday.
Dembele's 22nd minute strike was enough to seal the win as Barca moved three points clear of Real Madrid, who lost at Villarreal on Saturday.
Xavi opted to pick four midfielders to compensate for the loss of Robert Lewandowski due to suspension and Barca started well.
Chances came and went, with two Ansu Fati strikes blocked, before Pedri's run and Gavi's pass created the opener for Dembele.
Pedri could have made it two soon after but Atletico came into the game in the latter stages of the second half.
Jose Maria Gimenez and Antoine Griezmann came close, the latter forcing a good save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen, but Barça went into the break ahead.
Atletico continued to push in the second half, although Dembele had two chances to kill the game off on the break.
Stefan Savic and Ferran Torres then came to blows late on with both shown a red card in the 92nd minute.
Atletico kept going until the end but couldn't break down a stubborn Barca backline, with Ronald Araujo coming to the rescue in stoppage time by clearing a Griezmann shot off the line.
