Barcelona 1-0 Atletico: Messi goal edges La Liga title towards Camp Nou

Barcelona 1-0 Atletico: Messi goal edges La Liga title towards Camp Nou

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Messi's 600th career goal earned three points for Barça

Valverde's side are now eight points clear of Atletico

Barcelona move eight points clear at the top of La Liga with a 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid on Sunday. 

MATCH FACTS
Liga Santander

FCB

1 ________________ 0

ATM

LINE UP

FC Barcelona

Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Busquets, Rakitic, Iniesta (André Gomes, 34'), Coutinho (Paulinho, 84'), Messi y Luis Suárez

Atlético de Madrid

Oblak, Vrsaljko (Correa, 58'), Godín, Giménez, Filipe Luis (Lucas, 74'), Gabi (Gameiro, 65'), Thomas, Koke, Saúl, Griemzann y Diego Costa

Goles

1-0, Messi (24')

Árbitro

Gil Manzano (extremeño). TA: Vrsaljko (32'), Giménez (56') / Messi (28'), Rakitic (68')

Incidencias

Camp Nou, 90.356 espectadores

Lionel Messi’s first half free-kick proved the difference as Barca took a huge step towards winning the league title. 

Atletico had closed the gap to five points in the last month and came into the game on the back of eight wins, scoring nine goals in their last two league games. 

However, Barça, who started with Philippe Coutinho, dominated the first half and barely let their visitor’s have a sniff. 

Messi’s free-kick in the 26th minute — the 600th goal of his career for club and country — opened the scoring after Thomas Partey had fouled the Argentine. 

Coutinho twice tested Jan Oblak and Gerard Pique headed over before Andres Iniesta was taken off injured. 

Atletico improved after the break but Barça managed to limit their chances, Saul Niguez’s looping header drawing a comfortable save from Marc-Andre ter Stegen. 

The Madrid side were dominating but the Catalans almost struck on the break. Luis Suarez had a goal ruled out for offside, a Messi effort was deflected over and Oblak saved from Sergio Busquets. 

There was a goal ruled out at the other end, too, as the game ended in three more points for Barca. 

Ernesto Valverde’s side are unbeaten through 27 league games this season and it’s 34 games without defeat including last season. 

More importantly, though, they have an eight point cushion at the top of the table. Can anyone catch them?