Fermin double sees leaders restore three-point cushion

Fermin Lopez scored twice as Barcelona came from behind to beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 and restore a three-point cushion at the top of LaLiga.

Real Madrid had drawn level with Barca courtesy of a 3-0 win at Valencia on Saturday, and the Blaugrana looked in danger of being leapfrogged by Atletico when Giuliano Simeone gave the hosts a deserved early lead.

But Atletico paid the price for failing to add to that as Fermin drew Barca level before half-time, with the defending champions exhibiting much greater control after restoring parity.

And it was Fermin who completed the comeback thanks to a sublime assist from Yamal, striking a huge blow to the title hopes of Atletico, who are now five points off the pace with a vastly inferior goal difference.

Alvarez went close to opening the scoring against the team he wanted to join in the summer as he was played through one-on-one with Joan García and attempted to round the Barcelona goalkeeper.

However, Garcia did an excellent job forcing him wide, with the Argentina forward’s eventual attempt to cross back across goal turned behind for a corner, from which Marc Pubill cracked the crossbar with a header.

Pedri then rattled the bar at the other end, but Atletico did find the breakthrough with Alvarez to the fore again as his low centre from the left-hand side of the penalty area was turned home by Simeone’s first-time effort.

Barca settled somewhat after going behind, but they were still fortunate that an Alvarez effort did not cross the line after squeaking through the legs of Garcia, who scrambled back to prevent a second.

Atletico were punished for failing to make the most of their period of superiority as Fermin levelled, curing superbly beyond Jan Oblak and into the far corner after great work from Pedri in driving into the area.

Pedri continued to carry a huge threat for Barca in the second half and saw a strike deflected over as Barca pushed to complete the turnaround, though they were fortunate to see an attempted lob from Alvarez narrowly clear the crossbar as the Atletico star once again found himself bearing down on Garcia’s goal.

However, Atletico’s attacks did not possess the same venom in the second half as they did in the first, and it was Yamal who produced the game’s telling moment of quality, his incisive pass into the area finding Fermin, who steered home his second from close range.

Atletico rarely looked like finding an equaliser and will be left to spend the international break thinking about what might have been, with the fight for the title looking likely to be a very familiar two-horse race.

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