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MADRID (AP) — Taking part in with out Robert Lewandowski wasn’t so unhealthy for Barcelona in spite of everything.
Barcelona overcame the absence of its prime striker to win 1-0 at Atlético Madrid and open a three-point lead over rival Actual Madrid within the Spanish league on Sunday.
Madrid had misplaced 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday for its second league lack of the season. Atlético dropped to fifth place, seeing its hole to the lead attain 14 factors.
Ousmane Dembélé scored within the first half and Barcelona held on for its first league win of the 12 months. Dembélé scored with a low shot from shut vary after a arrange by Gavi Páez within the twenty second minute.
“We knew it was going to be powerful to win right here, however after Madrid misplaced factors in opposition to Villarreal we needed to make the most of the chance,” Barcelona captain Sergio Busquets stated. “We’ve to maintain including factors on the prime.”
Barcelona was with out Lewandowski, the league’s main scorer with 13 targets, as a result of the Poland striker started serving a three-game suspension from earlier than the World Cup break. He had confronted Espanyol late final 12 months after the suspension was quickly lifted, however it received reinstated this week to maintain him from enjoying.
Barcelona coach Xavi began with Ansu Fati in Lewandowski’s place. Fati had come off the bench to attain the profitable aim in additional time and assist Barcelona escape elimination in opposition to third-division membership Intercity within the Copa del Rey midweek.
Ahead Antoine Griezmann had a few good alternatives to equalize for Atlético however couldn’t capitalize on them on the Metropolitano stadium within the Spanish capital.
“We performed nicely for many of the match,” Atlético goalkeeper Jan Oblak stated. “We created probabilities however we have been a bit unfortunate. We may have scored a number of instances, however the ball simply didn’t go in.”
It was Barcelona’s first league win at Atlético since 2019.
Barcelona will now journey to Saudi Arabia to play within the Spanish Tremendous Cup together with Madrid, Actual Betis and Valencia. The Catalan membership takes on defending Copa del Rey champion Betis on Thursday in one of many semifinals. Madrid and Valencia play within the different semifinal on Wednesday.
SOCIEDAD NEAR THE TOP
Actual Sociedad continued its good run by profitable 2-0 at Almería to remain in third place.
David Silva and Alexander Sorloth scored a aim every early within the second half to present the Basque Nation membership its sixth victory in a row in all competitions.
Sociedad is six factors behind second-place Madrid and 9 behind Barcelona. Almería, which had received 4 in a row at dwelling within the league, dropped to 14th place.
BETIS STAYS CLOSE
Betis received 2-1 at Rayo Vallecano to finish a three-game winless streak within the league and keep 4 factors behind Sociedad in fourth place.
It was the third consecutive league match with out a win for Rayo Vallecano, which stayed eighth.
RELIEF FOR SEVILLA
Sevilla defeated Getafe 2-1 at dwelling to finish a six-game winless streak within the league to maneuver out of the relegation zone. It hadn’t received since a 1-0 victory at Mallorca in October.
Marcos Acuña and Rafa Mir scored for Sevilla, whereas Borja Mayoral netted for Thirteenth-place Getafe.
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Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni
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AP sports activities: https://apnews.com/hub/sports activities and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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