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Barcelona stayed atop the LaLiga table following a 1-1 draw with Atlético Madrid yesterday, but the Blaugrana stars were less than enthused by the approach of Diego Simeone’s men at the Wanda.
Atlético scored with its only shot on target (a Diego Costa header off a Antoine Griezmann corner), but the home side limited Barcelona to just two shots on frame themselves (a Lionel Messi free kick straight at Jan Oblak and Ousmane Dembélé’s late equalizer).
“They sat back waiting to counterattack,” said Sergio Busquets after the match. “We weren’t able to get our passes between their lines, they didn’t let us. They had two banks of four and they stuck together really well. That’s how Atlético set up for games. We knew that, but we didn’t expect it to be so exaggerated. It’s their idea. It’s not that much fun, but you have to respect it.”
It was Messi’s magical assist that salvaged the point, and the Barcelona captain completed nine dribbles on the night while attempting to disrupt the rigid structure maintained by the likes of Saúl Ñíguez, Lucas Hernández and Filipe Luis.
The Brazilian left back got diced by Messi when straying a bit too close, and this is probably why Simeone elects to defend en masse.
Barcelona returns to action on Wednesday in the Champions League with a trip to Eindhoven to play Chucky’s PSV. Atlético hosts Thierry Henry’s Monaco that same day.
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