Barcelona suffered a painful injury defeat as Alexander Sorloth secured Atlético Madrid a comfortable 2-1 victory that took Diego Simeone’s side to the top of La Liga.

The Blaugrana made their intentions clear from the start as they harried and harassed their in-form opponents, who had won 11 games in a row in all competitions.

The dominant hosts – who were without the injured Lamine Yamal – took a deserved lead after half an hour when Pedri determinedly drove towards the penalty area and then slotted past goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Raphinha was just shy of doubling his side’s lead when his shot bounced off the crossbar and they were met with a hammer blow moments later. After offering little, Barca failed to clear the ball and Rodrigo De Paul curled an elegant shot into the corner from the edge of the box in the 60th minute.

Atlético then went into lockdown mode and the home team struggled to break through them. Oblak made excellent saves from Raphinha and Pedri, leaving Flick’s team frustrated on Saturday evening.

And then, with virtually the last shot of the game, Sorloth emphatically completed a rapid counter-attack to break Barca’s hearts, securing their first away league win against their rivals since 2006 and pushing them into first place in the division.

GOAL reviews Barcelona’s players from the Olympic Stadium by Lluis Company…