That coupled with the recently found inability to defend in first halves could only lead to one thing - an early Atletico Madrid lead. And while Barcelona still seemed to be searching for their attacking identity, Atletico's attacks looked fluid and deadly. BarГ§a defended the two corner kicks with relative ease, but the Catalan defense needed plenty of help from goalkeeper Claudio Bravo on SaГєl Г‘Гguez's left-footed drive that seemed destined for the far post.Д«arcelona slowly started their possession game going, but Atletico remained the better and more dangerous team on the pitch.

While this was a largely expected tactic, it seemed to catch Barcelona off guard as Atletico quickly managed to get plenty of zone-time and threatened through a long range shot and two corner kicks. The visitors were extremely quick to close down every inch of space and wasted no time in sending at least one player right into the face of the Barcelona ball-carrier. The match started with impressive pressure from Atletico players all over the pitch. The visitors couldвЂ™ve had a better chance of a second half comeback had it not been for their extremely aggressive play which led to two red cards.

Atletico Madrid had gotten off to a better start, scoring first through Koke, but Barcelona clawed back with goals from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez. Barcelona notched another hugely important scrappy win, this time against their (currently) closest rivals for the 2015-16 La Liga title.

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