Barcelona finally beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 as the trident scores

Barcelona 3-1 Atletico Madrid: Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar combine to lift the gloom

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Lionel Messi showed why he is the boss at Barcelona making the first two goals and scoring the third in a 3-1 win over Atletico Madrid at the Nou Camp.

After a week when the Argentine had taken on coach Luis Enrique, the board had sacked the Sporting Director and called early elections the Barcelona players closed ranks around their number 10 and closed the gap on Real Madrid at the top of the table to one point.

Messi clearly used his arm to make the second goal of the night for Luis Suarez and gave away a second half penalty as Atletico Madrid clawed their way back into the game but he made sure Barça rode out the visitors’ come back by scoring the decisive third. 

Barcelona’s front three clicked as early as 12 minutes when Messi and Dani Alves exchanged passes down the right with the Argentine angling his run towards goal. 

His pass to Suarez cannoned off the Uruguayan and ran to Neymar who scrambled it past Miguel Moya. It wasn’t pretty but Luis Enrique will take anything at the moment and it lifted the pressure inside the Camp Nou – a Camp Nou with 70,000 more supporters inside it than for Barcelona’s midweek cup game.

That match on Thursday saw Barça demolish lowly Elche and everyone had expected this to be a much tougher test but the Atletico Madrid who were unbeaten against Barcelona in six games last season had simply not turned up.

There was none of the relentless pressing of the opposition and, with journeyman right back Jesus Gamez playing as a left-back up against Messi, Barcelona were threatening down that flank every time they attacked.

When the second goal came it came from Messi picking the ball up on the right – almost literally – he nudged it forward with his arm before racing clear and playing in Suarez who buried it for 2-0.

Simeone remonstrated with the referee Alberto Undiano, and Diego Godin and Mario Mandzukic made various gestures towards the match official suggesting he had seen the incident but not had the courage to stop play.

It had been a busy first half for the Undiano. Neymar was left with a bloodied foot after clashing with Jose Gimenez, Mandzukic elbowed Sergi Busquets and Messi caught Gamez with his forearm. Another referee might easily have shown a red card for one of the incidents. 

The second half continued in the same spirit with Juanfran going through the back of Neymar and picking up a yellow card. Arda Turan should have followed him into the book for chopping down Andres Iniesta. 

The referee than had the biggest call of the game as Messi tried to pinch the ball from Gamez in the Barcelona penalty area. He made contact with the full-back who exaggerating the clash throwing himself up in the air and persuading Undiano to point to the spot. Mandzukic slammed home the penalty despite the 98,000 screams inside the stadium and Atletico were back in the game.

Suarez was booked at the other end after protesting when the referee waved away appeals for a foul on Rakitic from Jimenez as the pair jumped for a cross. Mandzukic had words with Suarez no doubt trying to provoke the Uruguayan further. Tiago then went into the book for pulling back Neymar.

With 20 minutes left Simeone threw Fernando Torres into the mix. The Atletico Madrid striker came into the game with a record of five goals in six appearances on this ground. His moment of glory so nearly came with 10 minutes left when Mandzukic’ cross left him racing to the loose ball but he was beaten to it by Claduio Bravo.

Messi made no mistake two minutes from time when he was given two chances to convert Rakitic’s cross and he sent it past Moya at the second attempt. The power he has off the pitch has been up for debate all week – the in fluence he has on the pitch has never been in doubt. 

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Southampton beat Manchester United 1-0

Manchester United 0-1 Southampton: Substitute Dusan Tadic hits the winner for high-flying Saints as they overtake United and move up to third in the Premier League table

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This defeat will hurt Louis van Gaal. History tells us that he doesn’t like conceding ground to Ronald Koeman.

It will disturb Manchester United supporters even more, though, simply because it is indicative of changed circumstances.

During the golden years, only the really big teams came to Old Trafford with victory in mind. Now, that invitation is open to any side who have the courage and nerve to take it. Sides such as Southampton. 

Koeman’s team didn’t win this match with a smash and grab. It was no backs-to-the-wall, hang-on-and-hope operation. Not a bit of it.

Southampton came to Manchester looking to outplay United, while Saints’ manager came to prove himself tactically more astute than the compatriot with whom he once worked fractiously at Ajax.

As the result suggests, both plans worked. The winning goal in the 69th minute, from Serbian substitute Dusan Tadic, surprised nobody, while United’s jumbled attacking formation failed to produce anything resembling a chance until Juan Mata missed a couple of opportunities late on.

Southampton goalkeeper Fraser Forster had to be vigilant but no more than that. He won’t be washing his gloves this week, so rarely did he have to use them.

An interesting fact — the one that dominated social-media chat at full-time — was that United ended the game without registering a shot on target. That put Wayne Rooney’s suggestion that United had ‘deserved to win’ into its proper context and was indicative of the home team’s impotence in the final third of the field. 

Perhaps equally as pertinent, though, was that this was a game that ended with no late cavalry charge from United. Here at Old Trafford, United teams used to view the possibility of victory for their opponents as an affront to their pride, as an insult even.

Even on the days they did lose, they did so while threatening to kick the door down.

Not on Sunday, though. Van Gaal made late substitutions and changed things round a bit. He pushed Rooney up the middle and threw on Marouane Fellaini to try to unsettle Southampton physically.United still ended the game quietly, though. Beaten in every way.

Young striker James Wilson remained on the substitutes’ bench while Radamel Falcao — £280,000-a-week Radamel Falcao — watched from afar, having failed to make the squad.

It was all a little odd, but then maybe not that odd at all. For this is the type of thing that always looks as though it may happen to United these days.

The misery and defeatism of David Moyes’s time at United has disappeared but a vulnerability remains. Indeed, Van Gaal’s United have the same number of points that Moyes’s team did after the same number of games. Koeman was gracious afterwards but still struck a relevant theme when he mentioned the ‘difficulties’ of United’s three central defenders. He also stated that victory had not surprised him.

‘It is a good feeling,’ he said. ‘Certainly it’s better than how I felt when United beat us at Southampton.’ 

Southampton began brightly, and Steven Davis and Pelle were denied by interventions from Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw respectively. Pelle also headed wide from a corner before, with 21 minutes to go, United’s defence was breached.

It was Tadic’s vision that did the damage. He seemed to have his head down amid a sea of red after United had failed to clear a long pass to the edge of their own area. But somehow the Southampton man spotted Pelle unmarked to his right and squeezed the ball out to his team-mate.

One on one with David de Gea, Pelle should have scored, but even though his shot rebounded from the near post, Tadic was alert enough and calm enough to side-foot the ball back into the empty goal from 15 yards.

There was still time for United and Mata could — maybe should — have scored late on.

Twice Daley Blind provided the Spaniard with good chances but twice he failed to hit the target. Soon after, he missed again with a half volley.

In many ways, Mata sums up the current United. Talented but unreliable, only sporadically impressive.

Real Sociedad beat Barcelona again at Anoeta 1-0

Joy for David Moyes as Real Sociedad beat Barcelona in La Liga

Real Sociedad coach David Moyes praised his side’s determined defending after their 1-0 victory over Barcelona on Sunday.

Moyes has had little to cheer about over the last year but was all smiles after his side held on to beat Barca after taking the lead in the second minute through an own-goal by Jordi Alba.

The Scotsman lasted less than a season at the helm of Manchester United before being sacked last April and took on a tough task when he agreed to take over a Sociedad side fighting relegation in November.

There were plenty of doubts in the local media over his lack of experience of Spanish football, and his inability to speak the language, but he has made a solid start, building from the back and they have lost only one game so far.

“I am very happy to get the result, it was a very important and it was a very hard game,” Moyes told a news conference. “We worked hard defensively and defending is a big part of football. You don’t win games if you don’t defend well. The way that we played at the back gave us the chance to win this game.

“I always hope that we have the ball in all our matches but against Barcelona you know that this is difficult. This is something that we can improve on but I would like to emphasise the spirit of the team and the way we worked hard together.”

Real Sociedad’s defeat of Barcelona my ‘happiest night’ at club, says David Moyes

 

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Sociedad’s task was arguably made easier with both Lionel Messi and Neymar left on the bench in the first half having only returned last Friday from their Christmas break and Moyes said he was not surprised by Barca coach Luis Enrique’s team selection.

“I wouldn’t say that it was more straightforward as Barcelona have a strong squad with great players,” he said. “They have top players though and they can’t always be at their best in all games.

“The most important games for Barcelona will come later in the season and I think Luis Enrique made a sensible decision. I thought something like this would happen and we were prepared for it.”

Valencia halts Real Madrid 2-1

First loss for Real Madrid since derby against Atlético

Real Madrid's run of consecutive victories in official matches came to an end after losing 2-1 against Valencia at the Mestalla.

Their 22 triumphs mark a new record in the history of Spanish football but falls two short of emulating Curitiba of Brazil and entering the Guinness Book of Records.

Real Madrid set a new record for consecutive victories in Spanish football, leaving the 18 wins set by Barcelona under Dutchman Frank Rijkaard in the 2005-06 season, a distant second.

Carlo Ancelotti's team had not lost a match since 13th September, when they lost in La Liga to Atlético de Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu. This was when the run began, after two consecutive losses in the league, with that match added to the reverse against Real Sociedad. It lasted from 16th September when they trounced Basil 5-1 in the Champions League, to 4th January, the day they lost at the Mestalla, six months later.

The 22 matches won, ten at home, twelve away, have been over four competitions. Six victories in the Champions League, twelve in La Liga, two in the Club World Cup and two in the Copa del Rey. Real Madrid scored 80 goals, against just ten conceded, until Valencia hit two past them to turn the game around and put an end to the historic run.