Barcelona vs Atlético Madrid, summary: Ferran Torres goal, score, goals & highlights | LaLiga Santander 22/23

That's all for today!

Thanks for joining us for the live coverage of Barcelona 1-0 Atlético Madrid.

Make sure to check out en.as.com for all the match reaction to today's game.

Joe

Raphinha is their MVP

A 7.7 player rating and the match MVP. He was on fire today in what was certainly one of the best games he has had in a Barça shirt.

Sofascore says...

it was a much more entertaining second half, according to the numbers, with Atleti coming into the game and managing to dominate over certain periods. But Barça stood strong, as they have done all season, and another 1-0 win will do them just nicely.

Another key performance from MATS today

Raphinha got the MVP award, but I'm sure he won't mind sharing once he sees these stats.

Match summary:

A frantic game saw end-to-end attacking, and the last minutes of the game were filled with fouls, close calls, huge chances and a ferocious pace that began on minute one of the match.

Ferran got the decisive strike in the first half and Barcelona sit 11 points clear of Real Madrid in second with 7 games to go in the season. It is a huge result for Xavi's side who will be delighted they managed to overcome the intensity that Atlético imposed on the game.

Griezmann and Lewandowski provided the threat for both teams, and both players could have had an influence on the scoreline with huge chances that they missed. 

A Busquets handball will be the talking point for the controversy-lovers out there but the main message of the game is Barça's impressive defensive record continues and it's another 1-0 win for the side that look al but certain to win LaLiga.

Raphinha is given the official MVP award.

Full-time!

Game over!

Barça put one hand on the LaLiga trophy!

Saúl booked for a foul on Gavi. That's booking number 11 for the day.

Atleti attack again and Busquets clears the ball, this time with his feet.

Raphinha OFF

Ansu ON

Four minutes added. The Atlético players want a handball as Busquets handled the ball in the box. But I have no idea what a handball is any more, so I can't tell you if it is or not.

Gavi gets booked. Water is wet.

We're into the last minute of normal time.

Oblak tries to launch a counter-attack by hoofing the ball up the pitch towards Carrasco, who makes a valiant effort of chasing the ball down to the last second. Simeone asks for calm from the sidelines.

Oh my, Morata heads just wide... the crowd fell silent as the ball swept past Ter Stegen.

Carrasco squirms left and right into the Barça box before hitting a shot that is blocked by Koundé. 

Somehow, Morata ends up with a yellow card as a result.

We've had cards for Giménez, Barrios and now Reguilón over the last few minutes, all for late fouls on Barça players trying to break away.

The last challenge, Reguilón on Raphinha, was perhaps worthy of more than a warning. 

Barrios wastes a chance for Atlético to attack with another misplaced pass. Everyone on the pitch is incredibly frantic and nervous in possession, with no time at all to think.

Atlético are pushing for a late goal with Griezmann and Morata both up front in a 4-4-2.

Some things never change.

Savic is in the book for a trip on Lewandowski (misses the game against Mallorca). Barça had launched a counter after Barrios hit a dangerously misplaced pass on the edge of the box. 

Hermoso OFF

Reguilón ON

De Jong OFF

Kessié ON

A long ball is, quite incredibly, left by Savic who is asleep, allowing Lewandowski in behind the entire Atlético defence on his own.

Raphinha is to the right of the striker and, in a 2vs1 with just Oblak left to beat, the Pole chooses to shoot instead of pass to his teammate... but the shot is terrible and rolls at least 2 metres wide of goal.  

LEWANDOWSKI MISSES THE BEST CHANCE OF THE GAME

Griezmann catches Eric with his boot after a strange touch from the defender catches the Atleti player off guard.

Griezmann hit a fiery back heel shot after a fantastic cross from Morata. Ter Stegen got to his knees to stop the shot from rifling into the back of the net! 

WHAT A SAVE FROM TER STEGEN

Incredible!

Gavi was played the ball across the box and he completely missed the ball as he went with his left foot. The cross then came in immediately after from the left, where Raphinha did not expect to receive the ball, and as such he fumbled the chance and Oblak saved!

RAPHINHA MISSES FROM A YARD OUT

GAVI MISSES A HUGE CHANCE

Atlético are starting to find their way through Barcelona's midfield; Morata's introduction has given them a new reference point up front and the side are constantly trying to find him.

70 minutes gone, still 1-0 thanks to Ferran's first-half strike.

Molina falls over in the Barça box after trying a shot: his body cannot take any more. He has put in a huge shift this afternoon at Camp Nou.

Ah, Pedri, how we have missed you. The little wizard spins on the wing and links up wonderfully with Raphinha before Atleti get back to defend in numbers.

Lemar OFF

Saúl ON

Molina snatches the ball from Lewandowski as he receives the ball on the edge of the box. Plenty of 'Oooohhhss' from the crowd, who thought they were about to see another chance.

The wing-back scampers up the pitch and hits a curling cross for Morata, but the Spaniard can't get his head on the ball. 

Pedri tries to score a back heel but fluffs the shot and it bobbles wide. The game, as they say, is breaking. 

Goodbye, structure. Hello, madness. 

DE PAUL MISSES THE CHANCE TO DRAW LEVEL

Carrasco, instead of darting inside as normal, decides to take on Koundé outside and plays the ball to De Paul inside the box. The World Cup winner is on his own just a few yards out but his shot is poor and is fired wide.

WHAT A CHANCE FOR GAVI!

He latches onto a bobbling ball inside the box and fires a low drive across goal that flashes just wide!

MarcosA and Ferran OFF

Eric and Pedri ON

A huge cheer for the incoming player... Pedri, I assume.

Savic dives in to save Atlético from conceding a second. Raphinha's cross was fired in with venom and Lewandowski was lurking around the penalty spot. 

Simeone is reading this thread on his iPad...

Correa and Witsel OFF

Morata and Barrios ON

Carrasco fires wide after Atlético attack down the left with Lemar refusing to shoot and Witsel screaming at Carrasco to lay the ball off to him on the edge of the box. Things looked a bit rushed by the away side. A change to calm things down, perhaps?

Busquets goes into the book for pulling Lemar's shirt for a total of 10 seconds. He misses Barça's next game (vs Rayo).

The player is furious as he now has ripped shorts from Lemar, who got a bit too close to his opponent.

Wow, that was close. Ter Stegen gets a vital hand on Carrasco's whipped cross/shot from the left and the ball goes out for a throw-in.

There's a bit of confusion as to what the decision actually is, as nobody knows if the ball went out of the byline before it curled out of the sideline.

Anyway, Ter Stegen gets a free-kick and we're off again.

Giménez lifts a boot and Raphinha crashes into the defender chasing a high ball. The señor referee says no, and gives the ball to Oblak instead. Xavi is as happy as you would imagine.

Balde plays a wonderful cross from the left and Lewandowski, on the penalty spot, misses the ball, giving us all hope to one day become professional footballers too. 

Carrasco breaks forward, skips inside on his right foot and rifles a wild shot that zips over the bar. 

Simeone's side need to get a foot on the ball in these opening moments or else they're going to find the deficit doubled.

Barça are rabid, buzzing around like caffeine-filled bumblebees, and Atleti can't control the madness.

Oblak gets down well to save Ferran's effort from the edge of the box: Barça sliced open the away side with just a few passes there from right to left. 

A fast start from Barça, who race out of the blocks with Raphinha.

The ball falls to Lewandowski in the box and his touch forces him to face away from goal. It doesn't, however stop him from having a shot and the Pole swings a wild leg at the ball, which bobbles towards goal.

And we're off!

The second half is underway. Barça get us going.

No changes from either side at half-time.

LALIGA

Why are Barcelona wearing yellow against Atlético?

For those that want to know more, here's an in-depth explainer on why Barça are wearing their yellow kit for today's game.

Sofascore say it was uneventful...

I'm not sure about that, the atmosphere has definitely added to the game, that's for sure. 

Half-time!

And that's all! 

What an intense half of football. Atlético opened things off in the most frantic of fashions with a whizzing Griezmann effort that came off the bar inside 60 seconds. 

From there, Barça tried to dominate the ball with mixed results: there have been time in which. the Atleti press has caused them problems and the away side have managed to carve out some decent opportunities on the break. 

Barça, for their part, haven't had extremely clear chances that Oblak has had to save, and the goal was a strange one - Simeone will definitely not be happy with it - as it seemed as though Ferran had way too much time and space to pick out a shot and slide the ball under the goalkeeper from distance to give Xavi's side the lead going into the break.

1 minute added.

A long ball to Raphinha is met by the Brazilian and he plays it across the edge of the box to Ferran. 

The number 11 takes a couple of easy touches with his right foot, opens his body and slides what is quite a weak shot past Oblak from distance.

Barça are killing the clock here with some controlled possession in their own half. Simeone's side are standing firm as if to say 'come and attack us'.

Giménez reads Ferran's attempt to play in Balde excellently well. Araujo had tried to find the ex-City man with a clipped pass over the top but it was anticipated perfectly by the defensive unit.

We've got 5 minutes left of normal time... no goals yet but plenty of drama.

Atlético's work rate as soon as Barcelona begin to seriously advance is incredibly impressive. There is not one player who is not pumping their legs to get back and defend in the block.

After that flurry of Atleti chances, Barça are looking to cool things down. A few passes between defenders and midfielders is like a long drink of water in the desert right now.

Carrasco beat Koundé to a ball on the left and the cross was met by Griezmann, who shot low and hard to Ter Stegen's right. The goalkeeper gets down brilliantly well to stop the shot from rattling into the net.

HUGE SAVE FROM TER STEGEN

Koundé vs Carrasco is turning into an interesting battle on Atleti's left side. The away team have looked for the Belgian a few times now with long balls and the races between the players have been very entertaining.

Savic gets a foot in on Ferran's touch in the box after Balde manages to squeeze a cross in despite being challenged by De Paul. 

Atleti survive again and the clearance falls to De Jong, who is also tumbling, and his shot is high and wide as he hits the floor.

The manager has just stopped the game in order to tell Xavi to 'relax'. There have been a few mini-fouls on Gavi that the manager hasn't liked.

It's into the wall and Barça launch counter: for a few seconds it seems as though the home side are going to be away, but Savic turns into Dash from The Incredibles and bursts back at lightspeed to cover.

Griezmann to take the free kick from the wide position...

The first yellow of the day goes to Marcos Alonso for taking out Molina after he latched onto a loose ball and absolutely whizzed past the centre-back down the wing.

Araujo gets the biggest cheer of the afternoon so far as he switches on the afterburners to breeze past Correa, who is chasing a through ball from De Paul. Easy work for The Flash.

Ferran broke behind the defensive line on the left and fired a cross towards Raphinha, who was on his own as the Atleti players scrambled back.

But the man-mountain Jan Oblak was there for send a huge fist at the ball and clear the danger.

OBLAK WITH A HUGE SAVE

Atlético are defending in a very solid 5-3-2 shape with Griezmann and Correa in front of De Paul, Lemar and Witsel.

When Barça have the ball at the back, they are struggling to fins that first exit pass.

The crowd has gone from loud and anxious to just loud. The recent chances have cheered them up and they want more. It's a fantastic atmosphere at Camp Nou.

Giménez blocks a shot from Balde who had skipped inside from a wide position. Twenty minutes gone.

Carrasco gets on the end of a long ball which gives the away side some time to breathe. He takes it in from the left and lays off to Griezmann, whose weak shot is saved.

Lewandowski, who hadn't seen much of the ball, reminds us that he's a baller as well as a goal-scorer.

He receives the ball outside the box and flicks it back across his body, taking out 3 Atleti defenders. His runs into the box is stopped by Savic but the ball falls to Ferran, who can't get a shot away from just yards out. Maybe the sun was in his eyes...

WHAT A HUGE CHANCE FOR BARÇA!

Barça are slowly finding their groove after a shaky start: they are seeing more and more of the ball as the clock ticks on...

The middle third of the pitch is like a classic WWF Steel Cage match where the objective is to escape over the top without anyone pulling you back into the ring.

Every time the ball enters the centre circle, it feels like a thousand fans run down from the stands to chase it and leave no time for the player in possession to choose a pass. A seriously high pressure situation.

Molina stops a sweeping Barça attack on the left side and Barça get a corner that Oblak rushes out to push away. More comfortable defending from the away side. 

Chance for Atleti!

Barça step up there press and cause Atleti some problems in the build-up, but Simeone's team make it out of their half and into the Barça box, where a Griezmann cross is cleared by Araujo.

Busquets creases over as through he gets hit in his little Sergio, but the referee gives handball instead, further fuelling the loud yet slightly anxious atmosphere. 

Atlético make it into Barça's box down the right and the home side look passive as Correa pokes a cross into the danger area that is eventually cleared away. 

I have to say that I heartily disagree with Xavi: the sunny kick-offs are delightful.

Huge whistles as Ferran goes down under a challenge but the referee very visually tells him to get off the floor. Tense. 

A few whistles from the crowd already amongst the chants; they are not happy with the wild start from Simeone's side.

Barça bite back with some furiously fast passing triangles that advance their block up the pitch. What a frantic start to the game.

A couple of long balls immediately make things difficult for Barça and Busquets loses the ball in the middle of the pitch after some strong Atleti pressure. 

The ball is taken from Busquets' feet and slipped into Griezmann, who curls a first-time effort from the edge of the box that slams against the bar.

WHAT A START!

OFF THE CROSSBAR FROM GRIEZMANN!

And we're off!

Griezmann kicks us off from right to left.

A reminder of the starting XIs:

FCB: Ter Stegen, Kounde, araujo, Marcos A, Balde; Sergio, Gavi, De Jong; Ferran, Lewandowski, Raphinha

ATM: Oblak, Savic, Giménez, Hermoso, Carrasco, Molina; Witsel, De Paul, Lemar; Griezmann, Correa

COMPARTEIX EL CATALÀ says the huge mosaic from the fans across the lateral side of the ground: share Catalan.

Here come the players!

Camp Nou looks lovely and it is a fantastically sunny afternoon. I hope Xavi has brought his sunglasses...

We're ready to go!

The first of the players are in the tunnel and ready to step out onto the pitch.

Here's the Sofascore Barça lowdown:

Xavi's side are clocking under two goals a game, which shows not only that they have been incredibly solid, but also the ability to win 1-0 has been something very useful for them throughout the season.

Koke injury confirmed:

In a pre-match interview, an Atlético Madrid member of staff has confirmed that both Diego Simeone and club doctors have decided the best thing for Koke to do is to sit out the game today due to a "niggling injury".

How it went last time...

The last time Atlético lost was in January - 0-1 to Barça - they have gone unbeaten since then, winning 10 and drawing three. 

In that game, the hosts had double the amount of shots that Barçahad, and a first-half goal from Ousmane Dembélé was the only thing that separated the two teams. Both Ferran and Savic, two of the players drafted in for today, were sent off in the 92nd minute.

The Atlético dressing room is ready to go!

We've got just over half an hour to go before kick-off, and the two teams are out on the pitch warming up.

Atlético will look like the home team on the pitch today as they will wear their red and white stripes, something that might have been more difficult were Barça to wear their red and blue home strip.

LALIGA

How much money is the Jules Koundé transfer clause going to cost LaLiga leaders Barcelona?

Joules Koundé starts for Barça today, which means that his current club will have to make an extra payment to his old team, Sevilla. 

This comes at a bad time for the Catalan side, as their financial troubles have not gone away and they need to keep hold of every single penny they can. 

Find out why Koundé is costing Barça so much by clicking on the link above.

Barça are playing in their fourth kit

The pattern of four red stripes on a yellow base kit reflects the Catalan flag, the senyera, and Barça are using it today to celebrate Sant Jordi.

Diego Simeone is looking got break an unwanted curse

Are any curses wanted?

Well Diego Simeone has not won in 15 trips to Camp Nou as manager of Atlético Madrid, which is definitely something he'll be looking to fix today. 

The longest-serving manager in the division has won 2 LaLiga titles, 1 Copa del Rey, 2 Europa Leagues, 2 UEFA Super Cups and got to the final of 2 Champions Leagues... but he's never won at Camp Nou. 

Atlético Madrid XI

Grizi and Correa start up front again; Lemar comes in to replace Marcos Llorente.

No Koke.

LALIGA SANTANDER

Barcelona vs Atlético: Times, how to watch on TV, stream online | LaLiga

Remember, if you want to watch the football as well as follow along with our "insightful and entertaining live coverage" (thanks for the review, mum), then here's how you can do it.

Today is Sant Jordi

In Cataluña, a region in Spain of which Barcelona is the capital, it is tradition to gift books and roses to those close to you, as Sant Jordi is the patron saint.

It would be a bit strange of the Barça social media team to give the players all a match day programme on arrival, so they chose roses instead. 

Here's how the table looks:

Atlético have the chance to go within 10 points of Barça with a win today. After this match, there are only 7 more rounds to go, which means a late attack on the league leaders would be unlikely, but not impossible. 

A win for the culés would put them 11 points ahead of Real Madrid in second (who beat Celta Vigo 2-0 yesterday), which would, barring a humungous wobble and a fall down the stairs of the Sagrada Familia, ensure them their first league title in 3 seasons.

Barça starting XI: Pedri makes the bench

Ter Stegen

Koundé - Araújo - Marcos A - Balde

Sergio Busquets - De Jong - Gavi

Raphinha - Lewandowski - Ferran

FC BARCELONA

Everything Xavi Hernández had to say before the LaLiga Santander game against Atlético Madrid

Barça boss Xavi Hernández spoke to the press in what was a very interesting afternoon. He mentioned the 15-year-old who is in the squad for the game,the return of Pedriand De Jong... oh, and he decided to keep on complaining that Spain is warm and sunny.

Quick-fire stats:

Barcelona have not gone without a goal in three consecutive league games since 1989; they are goalless in their last 2 (against Girona and Getafe).

Who to watch: Antoine Griezmann

The French… midfielder? I suppose that’s the point: nobody is really sure what his position actually is.

'Grizi' is emulating the form he has shown for France where, in a deeper role, he is able to dictate the play earlier in the move and even get involved in the defensive side of things. But the new position has not stopped his contribution in attack, where he has 5 goals in his last 8 games. 

Simply put, Griezmann seems to do a little of everything and he does it all brilliantly, becoming the shining light in a rampant Atleti that have gone through their unbeaten run with 6 wins on the bounce. 

Team news: FC Barcelona

Xavi finally welcomed back Pedri and Frenkie De Jong to the match day squad this weekend after the two players had been on the sidelines for around a month with thigh injuries. Their absences have coincided with Barça’s recent dip in form and they will both be welcome additions to the team.

However, given their lack of match sharpness after being out for so long, it is unclear as to whether or not they will be fit to start of feature. Ousmane Dembélé is the other player who is still on the injury list; despite training with the team, he did not make the squad and will play no part in the fixture.

Team news: Atlético Madrid

Atlético Madrid are still missing Memphis Depay, who injured his thigh on international duty at the end of March.

They will also be without the hugely important figure of Marcos Llorente after he picked up a booking against Almería and will serve a suspension.

Geoffrey Kondogbia is also unavailable for the game.

We have reached that moment in the season where every point feels like three and wins allow you to sleep properly at night and breathe full lungs of air.

Today is no different: the chance for Barça to put one hand on the league trophy is here if they pick a win; 3 points at Camp Nou for Atlético keeps them on Real Madrid’s tail and prolongs the wobble for Xavi’s side.

Welcome to the AS USA live coverage of FC Barcelona vs Atlético Madrid.

It’s Joe here to guide you through the action at Camp Nou.