Barcelona has lost its place at the top LaLiga table thanks to a heartbreaking 1-2 defeat against Atlético Madrid on Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Saturday evening. Barça were by far the better team from start to finish and created more than enough chances to win against Diego Simeone’s side in the final game of 2024, but once again lacked efficiency in front of goal and were forced out thanks to the performance of Alexander Sorloth paid a high price as the winner in the 96th minute.

FIRST HALF

Hansi Flick drew up a great game plan for the opening period as Barça played in an old-school 4-3-3 formation, with both wingers playing high and wide to stretch Atlético’s defense while simultaneously moving the ball quickly through the lines passed to find Raphinha and Fermín López isolated himself against the full-backs to send crosses into the box or find players through the middle to create chances.

The intensity out of possession also forced the visitors to release the ball quickly, and this strategy resulted in Barça playing their best half of football in a long time. The Blaugrana were intense, determined and efficient with and without the ball, and the Colchoneros were on the ropes from the opening whistle and had to deal with a lot of shots and pressure from the home team.

Atlético’s great defensive structure held up pretty well for half an hour, but a moment of individual brilliance finally brought them into action: Pedri made an amazing solo run down the left channel, played a wonderful one-two with Gavi on the edge of the box, and passed the ball long Corner to give the home team the lead with a beautiful goal.

The visitors tried to respond after going behind but were unable to break Barça’s offside trap, and Iñigo Martínez and Pau Cubarsí intervened well in the few moments when Atleti posed some sort of threat. The Catalans were quite comfortable in defense throughout the game and still had their clean slate at the final whistle.

Barça were ahead at half-time thanks to a great team performance, but had a narrow lead and Atlético couldn’t possibly play worse, so there was still a lot to do in the second half to get the three points.

SECOND HALF

Barça continued to dominate at the beginning of the final period, causing a lot of problems with high pressing and creating two great chances to extend the lead before the hour, but Fermín missed a simple one-on-one with Jan Oblak and Raphinha was really unlucky when his attempted lob went over hit the crossbar past the goalkeeper and couldn’t get in.

Soon after missing these opportunities, the hosts were made to pay for their lack of efficiency as Atlético launched a counter-attack and Marc Casadó’s poor defensive attempt from Julián Álvarez’s cross put the ball perfectly into the path of Rodrigo De Paul, who found the bottom corner and equalized against the run of play to bring Atleti back into the game.

Barça made two attacking changes shortly after the goal as Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres came on, while Diego Simeone countered with several defensive changes to switch his side’s formation to a 5-3-2 that was aimed at frustrating the team Blaugrana attack and find a winner on the counterattack with the pace of Álvarez and substitute Alexander Sorloth.

The visitors almost took the lead with 15 minutes to go when Casadó gave the ball away in his own half and Pablo Barrios was one on one with Iñaki Peña, but Barça’s goalkeeper brilliantly parried the foot, keeping his team in the game and setting up a wild one completion.

Barça overtook Atlético in the final minutes, creating huge chances, and then Oblak came to life as the goalkeeper made monster save after monster save to keep his team alive, including two one-on-one saves against Raphinha and Pedri.

The Catalans continued to push for the winning goal, but found themselves on the losing side at the very end: Atlético counterattacked in the 96th minute, Nahuel Molina used his run perfectly to avoid the offside trap and played a perfect cross to find Sorloth, who won it with a brilliant finish.

Shortly after, the final whistle blew and Barça’s year ended in heartbreaking fashion. This game would have ended in a Barça win nine times out of ten given how much they dominated and how many really clear chances they created, but their finishing problems persist and Atlético were sober when it came to what they were after arrived.

This really, really hurts.

Barcelona: Pena; Kounde, Cubarsí, Iñigo, Balde; Gavi (Ferran 64′), Casadó (Eric 80′), Pedri; Raphinha, Lewandowski, Fermin (Olmo 64′)

Goal: Pedri (30′)

Atletico: Oblak; Llorente (Le Normand 73′), Giménez (Witsel 52′), Lenglet, Galán; Simeone (Molina 62′), De Paul, Barrios, Gallagher (Koke ​​62′); Griezmann (Sorloth 73′), Álvarez

Goals: De Paul (60′), Sorloth (90+6′)