Dembélé (Via Messi) Saves Barça Late In Intense Match With Atletico

Atletico Madrid was close to one of its trademark wins against Barcelona — Diego Costa scored on a set piece and the defense shut the door on the other end.

Then Ousmane Dembélé stepped up with a great equalizer in the 90th minute to cap an intense top-of-the-table 1-1 draw at the Wanda. 

Barcelona came into the match with a one-point lead over Sevilla and Atletico atop the LaLiga table (Real Madrid far back in sixth after losing 3-0 earlier in the day). 

Admittedly, the first 75 minutes of the match weren't the most thrilling advertisement for Spanish football. But the game kicked into gear in the final 15 minutes.

First, Diego Costa took advantage of some lax defending to find plenty of space at the back post to head in the opening goal in the 77th minute.

Even without Diego Godin or Jose Gimenez, the Atletico defense smothered most every foray forward from Barcelona, which didn’t look likely to find an equalizer. 

But in the 80th minute, Dembélé was brought on for Arthur, and the Frenchman made the difference. 

As the match crept into stoppage time, Lionel Messi found Dembélé is space on the right wing. Dembélé took his time (maybe too much time) before shooting through Jan Oblak’s five-hole.

The draw kept Barcelona in first place, if only temporarily. Sevilla can overtake the Blaugrana with a win at home over Real Valladolid on Sunday.