Barcelona ended their winless run in La Liga as they defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0 in Camp Nou thanks to Torres’ goal.
After only 45 seconds, Antoine Griezmann came very close to haunting his former team when his shot from the edge of the box smacked off the bar. This was the closest either team came in the first 15 minutes before Robert Lewandowski’s drive into the box caused chaos that Atletico eventually contained. Barcelona eventually opened the scoring when Raphinha’s pass found Torres on the edge of the Atletico box just before the break, and the winger twisted his shot past Jan Oblak.
Barcelona attempted to impose their control, having greater fun running at the Atletico back line in the second half. Oblak had to be alert to stop Torres early in the second half, and Gavi fizzed agonizingly wide of the post. As time passed, the referee became a little card-happy, interrupting play to issue a yellow whenever possible, which benefited Barcelona as the league’s clear leader held out for the three points.
