Atlético Madrid's slender hopes of catching Barcelona and Real Madrid at the top of the table took a massive hit Sunday when Barça travelled to the Metropolitano and emerged with a 1-0 victory, opening up a 14-point gap between the teams after 16 games.
It was all too predictable from this Diego Simeone side with the João Félix and Antoine Griezmann led attack failing to breakthrough and the midfield unable to gain much of a foothold against Sergio Busquets, Gavi and Frenkie de Jong.
Ángel Correa couldn't even connect on an attempted shot aimed at the linesman.
The frustration is spilling over as Ángel Correa gets booked for kicking the ball at the linesman... #AtletiBarça pic.twitter.com/tz8mRM72fH
— LaLigaTV (@LaLigaTV) January 8, 2023
But you can also always rely on this Atlético team for a 90th-minute fracas, and in that regard they delivered — although, again, the Colchoneros ain't what they used to be. This isn't a bench clearing brawl. This is some one-on-one action that's almost NSFW.
Two minutes into the six of added time, Atlético's Stefan Savić and Barça's Ferran Torres (American viewers will recognize him from the World Cup as "the guy who's dating the coach's daughter") got into a little tangle on the halfway line.
Savić put an elbow across Torres' face, Torres responded by pulling Savić's hair and then Savić tried to squeeze his penis. Red cards for both.
The gloves are off!!
Ferran Torres and Stefan Savic are both sent off for this little scrap... #AtletiBarça pic.twitter.com/Po8DLGLnT0— LaLigaTV (@LaLigaTV) January 8, 2023
After Real Madrid's defeat to Villarreal on Saturday, Barcelona has a three-point lead at the top. Next up for both clubs is the Supercopa de España in Saudi Arabia with Valencia and Real Betis the other competing clubs.
