"There are days you can handle Atlético and days you can't"

Claudio Bravo, who made two important saves from Saúl and Antoine Griezmann during his side’s 2-1 victory over Atlético in Camp Nou on Saturday, said he was pleased with the three points secured against a direct rival for the title. Barcelona played against nine men for almost half an hour after both Filipe Luis and Diego Godín were sent off and told the television cameras after the match: “It was a difficult game. We knew that they have a very clear game plan. Atlético play a very tough style and that was no surprise to us. We knew how we had to play against them. I’m happy we got the three points. We needed to put some daylight between us and a direct rival in the league.

Atlético pressure: “We anticipated it because they have players who are capable of doing that. There are days when you can deal with it and days when you can’t. We didn’t get that feeling today. The most important thing is that we were able to get on top of the game. We are going well in all three competitions but we are focused on the day-to-day. We have to dig deep to win these games when things aren’t going all our own way.”

Lack of third goal against nine players: “We couldn’t get that third goal that would have allowed us to relax a bit, they moved well and it was hard for us to break through. But we managed to stamp out authority on the league.”