Legend has it that the Knight of Sant Jordi killed the dragon to save the princess, giving its name to one of the most beautiful days of the year. The streets of Barcelona are as beautiful as the path that Barça continues to follow in its fight to regain the throne. 'League in sight', is already heard at the Camp Nou, where with eight games to go they maintain a comfortable 11-point lead over their main pursuer after knocking down Atlético in an afternoon with room for passion and suffering among infinity of books and roses
Barça was pricked with the thorns of the first rose it dared to grab, an ugly loss for Busquets to which the crossbar made a band-aid before Griezmann's shot. A big scare to start the sunny afternoon at the Camp Nou. But a curious duel was quickly sensed between a Barça trying to increase the revolutions of the game with the ball and an Atlético that was looking for the opposite, slowing down each action, as if they were winning a final and wanted the timer to advance without major shocks.
After two games without winning and without scoring, Xavi ventured to recover a drawing with three forwards, placing Ferran Torres and Raphinha on the wings to try to serve balls to Lewandowski. But neither the Pole nor his assistants are experiencing exactly a sweet moment and there was no way to keep an eye on Oblak. He also formed the long-awaited De Jong from the beginning, pure kerosene for the Barça engine room even when he does not intervene too much, as was the case.
Contrary to traditional teams, Barça has become an inverted pyramid, with Ter Stegen as its spearhead, the German's hand tremendous before Griezmann's shot, who seemed determined to embitter the festive day of his old fans –never there was a lot of chemistry. With a reliable defense although revealing some cracks, ask Marcos Alonso; a midfield that was too irregular, which was crying out for the return of Pedri, and a forward with little fang. A scenario in which Atlético seemed more than comfortable, nestled in their field and running when they had the opportunity. Correa joined Griezmann in his attempt to open the scoring and got no response from the Barça side, whose only approach was a shot from De Jong from the same pitch.
Half-time was approaching and nerves began to surface in the stands of the Camp Nou, where Messi was chanted with the same ease as Ferran Torres, who seemed to show no signs of improvement. Barça kept adding minutes without kissing the net, far exceeding 300, and black clouds threatened in what for weeks has seemed a comfortable journey towards the title. But then, by magic – in a soccer desert it is legal to resort to all kinds of arts – Ferran Torres burst in to silence the whistles and hunt down half of the League. He persisted with the combative Raphinha a ball and gave it to the Valencian up front, who beat Oblak with a low and subtle shot moments before Sánchez Martínez signaled the break.
Crowned king of 1-0 in this League on its own merits, Xavi's Barça ran into his ghosts again, almost always scared away as the table indicates. But there was no time for stylistic debates because the second part had nothing to do with the first and football and emotion made their way through the tedium.
In three minutes, for example, Barça had already kicked twice on goal, more than in the first 45. Atlético also collaborated in this scenario, taking a small step forward and with a Carrasco disguised as a dagger peeking at Ter Stegen with some ease. Xavi did not seem to see it clearly in the band and it did not take long for him to rearrange his team with the entry of Pedri sacrificing a striker. The return of the canary was celebrated almost as much by the fans as by his teammates, who a few weeks later once again had a reference point that gave meaning to the game.
Barça appreciated the change of drawing and the presence of Pedri, touching the goal on several occasions. But Gavi shot across, Raphinha missed in the small area and Lewandowski, slow and greedy, wasted a very clear goal. But Atlético got up quickly. De Paul was not right and Ter Stegen denied again before Griezmann's spur. After so many scares, the leader finally managed to put the game to sleep in the last quarter of an hour, in which Atlético's pulse failed in the last meters. Barca possessions lengthened and the heartbeat of the long-suffering stands at the Camp Nou dropped. Sant Jordi had a happy ending for Barça and only an unprecedented earthquake will prevent the League from having it as well.
1 - Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Koundé, Araujo, Marcos Alonso (Eric Garcia, min. 61), Bucket; Busquets, Frenkie De Jong (Kessie, min. 78), Gavi; Lewandowski and Ferran Torres (Pedri, 61st)
0 - Atlético de Madrid: Oblak; Molina, Giménez, Savic, Hermoso (Reguilón, min. 79), Carrasco; Witsel (Barrios, min. 60), Rodrigo de Paul, Lemar (Saúl, min. 67); Correa (Morata, min. 60) and Griezmann.
Goal: 1-0, min. 44: Ferran Torres.
Referee: Sánchez Martínez (Murcian Committee). He showed yellow cards to Marcos Alonso (min. 28), Busquets (min. 57), Griezmann (min. 75), Raphinha (min. 78), Savic (min. 80), Giménez (min. 81), Barrios (min. 83), Reguilón (min.84), Morata (min. 87), Gavi (min. 90) and Saúl (min. 90 4)
Incidents: The match was attended by 80,965 spectators, in a game on the thirtieth day of the League played at the Spotify Camp Nou. Before the start of the match, a minute's silence was observed in memory of Josep Maria Fusté and Valentín Jorge Sánchez 'Robi', former FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid players, respectively, who recently died.
When both teams left the field, a mosaic was displayed with the inscription: "Share Catalan".
