Barcelona were down 1-0 on the scoreboard and down a man after 67 minutes when Lionel Messi left the pitch with an injury, with all three subs had already been used. Despite the disadvantage, Barcelona fought back with two late goals to earn a 2-1 win, their third straight at the Vicente Calderón.
Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona: Final score 1-2, 10-man Barca scores twice late to sink Los Colchoneros
Barcelona came back to defeat Atletico Madrid despite playing the final 23 minutes a man down after Lionel Messi left with an injury.
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The result affected nothing in the league with Barcelona having already clinched the title and Atleti already locked in to third place, but Los Colchoneros were at least looking to gather some momentum going into Friday’s Copa del Rey final.
After a rather pedestrian first half, Falcao finally got the ball in the back of the net in the 51st minute thanks to a giveaway in the midfield and more questionable defending from Barcelona.
Atletico captain Gabi’s initial pass was blocked which is good since at the moment of the first play, Falcao was in an offside position. The block allowed the Barca defense to play him onside and Gabi’s second pass, from his backside, found Falcao on he left completely alone thanks to the defense completely over-shifting to the right. From there it was an easy finish past José Manuel Pinto.
Atleti looked on their way to three points with the lead and Barca down to 10-men after Lionel Messi was forced off due to injury, with Tito Vilanova having already used all three substitutes. As you might expect though, Barca laughed in the face of that problem and won the match anyway.
In the 72nd minute Alexis played an excellent one-two with Cesc Fabregas, dumping the ball out right to the midfielder before continuing his run and receiving the return pass and beating Thibaut Courtois with a sliding shot.
Eight minutes later Barca went ahead thanks to a rather embarrassing own goal. Cristian Tello started the danger blowing past Miranda and centering to David Villa. The striker's shot was scuffed badly but it bounced off Gabi and behind Courtois as both midfielder and goalkeeper looked stunned as the ball rolled into the back of the net.
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