The sun shone at the top of the Spotify Camp Nou, Sant Jordi Sunday, Nivea afternoon that did not blind this time to an unaccustomed Barça. Rather it was Atletico that melted again in Simeone's cursed scenario, the one that ended a streak of its own and could not break another. "We have not been able to give emotion to the League," summed up Oblak, his team 13 points from the lead, five now from second place Real Madrid.

What could have been and wasn't for Atletico at the Camp Nou happened at 43 seconds. Three dogs of prey harassed Busquets, Correa slapped the ball not far from the front and Griezmann took a delicate left-footed shot that crashed into the crossbar of the beaten Ter Stegen. Electricity made in Cholo. The visitor could not maintain that tension in the middle of the field, largely due to the absence of Koke, one of the fittest guys, who with discomfort, "an overload in training on Saturday", was left out of the eleven. The goal in the twilight of the first half of Ferran Torres (334 minutes later scored again the Barça of Xavi), in the only defensive error rojiblanco until that moment -Giménez breaking the offside, Hermoso letting Raphinha do-, was the other key moment of Simeone's ninth defeat in La Liga in his visits to Barça since he is coach of Atlético: He has never won there.

Because Atlético accumulates 17 years, 23 games, of league drought at the Camp Nou (since February 2006). With an asterisk. Because there are draws that are worth more than wins and that of 2014 with Godín's goal was worth a League. Surely this time he did not deserve it either, despite being "a gentleman", in the words of a Xavi who greeted Simeone affectionately. In the second half, with everything open, Barça did not sentence of pure miracle: the chances of Raphinha and the selfish Lewandowski -tremendous his error and his not pass to the Brazilian: it is his third game without scoring: "He will be a little sad not to score, but happy to win. He is the Pichichi of LaLiga with 17 goals. Imagine the others" -, among others, they went to rub their eyes. "There was a back and forth in which we both had situations. I really liked how the team played, knowing what had to be done. Playing more the game we wanted than them," Simeone summed up.

Because the Cholo team also had some clear chances, a heel of Griezmann especially. Another genius: the Frenchman came very close to two anthological goals against his former team. And a penalty was called for a hand of Busquets in the 89th. 33 days later, that Sánchez Martínez had whistled that in favor of Atlético would have been unusual. "With their hands, nobody knows the rules well," Jan Oblak said.

"Barça is going to win the League," the Slovenian goalkeeper had said before in the microphones of Movistar. He pronounced it with the bitterness of one who sees his own broken streak. The six consecutive victories, the 13 games without losing. The third place seems assured long ago, the second moves away and the first, which was already impossible, now ... That is why this end of the course has remained so for Atletico, with the bitterness of the objectives that motivate so much.

  • Xavi Hernandez
  • Jan Oblak

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