Barca loan star Felix gets payback

Joao Felix's superb dinked finish earned Barcelona a vital 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid on Sunday in the Spanish league title race.

The Portuguese forward, on loan at Barca from Atletico, made no secret of his pleasure to escape the Spanish capital this summer and made his parent club pay at the Olympic Stadium.

Felix was criticized by some Atletico players ahead of the game and Barca coach Xavi Hernandez called on him to use those words as inspiration, which he duly did.

The forward's goal allowed Barca to reclaim third place from Atletico, now trailing leader Real Madrid and second-place Girona by four points.

"He made the difference for the team again. He gave everything, working hard, stealing the ball back, I am very happy for him," Xavi told reporters.

"I told him to be calm, this extra motivation sometimes speeds you up and you cross the line."

Xavi hailed his players' performance as a whole.

"The team had personality. We played very well today — maybe it's our best game of the season, a complete one, I would say," he said.

"It's a very positive sign of what we can and should do in every game — this is what Barca should be."

Atletico has not won away against the champion in La Liga since 2006, a run stretching to 18 matches, but arrived in Barcelona thinking this could be the time to snap that streak.

Since crumbling to a defeat in the Clasico against Madrid at the end of October, Barcelona has struggled for form and confidence.

Barca started well on Sunday, carving out chances before Felix broke the deadlock in the 28th minute, taking a brilliant touch to ride Nahuel Molina's challenge and then dinking over Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

Felix celebrated with arms aloft, standing on the advertising hoardings in front of the angry visiting supporters, while Rojiblancos coach Diego Simeone appeared disgruntled as he flashed up on the big screens.

The 24-year-old forward, a club-record signing at 126 million euros ($137 million) in 2019, never settled in the capital and did not click with Simeone's management and playing style.

"It was spontaneous... in the heat of the game and it was like a relief, for everything I lived through this summer," Felix told Movistar about his celebration.

"Every week I'm talked about, whether for good or bad, I do my job, without looking at what they say or think."

Perhaps not coincidentally, Axel Witsel was booked for hacking Felix to the ground shortly after.

Felix came close to a second with a prodded effort from Ilkay Gundogan's cut-back, but this time Oblak denied him.

Gundogan impressed in midfield alongside fit-again duo Pedri and Frenkie de Jong, as Barcelona controlled the game.

Raphinha clipped the post at the start of the second half to get Barcelona fans out of their seats.

Despite Barca's high-caliber opponent, the attendance fell short of 35,000 and was the club's poorest this season, with supporters perhaps turned off by the colder winter evenings and late kickoff.

Atletico improved in the second half but not by enough to force an equalizer.

Talisman Antoine Griezmann worked hard but could not find the net against his old employers — he has not netted in 14 games against Barca for the Rojiblancos.

Memphis Depay, another ex-Barcelona player, came closest for Atletico with a freekick tipped over by Inaki Pena, between the sticks for the host in place of the hurt Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

"They started better, they had more personality with the ball," said Simeone. "The team improved and had the chances to equalize."

Out-of-form Robert Lewandowski should have wrapped up Barcelona's victory but the Polish striker pulled an effort wide late on. Lewandowski only has three goals in his last 10 games for the club across all competitions.

Fourth-placed Atletico trails Barca by three points and the top two by seven.

"The idea was to go for the game and I don't know what happened," Atletico goalkeeper Oblak told Movistar.

AFP