Alexander Sørloth surprises Barcelona with a last-gasp winner for Atlético Madrid | La Liga

They were 95 minutes into the fight, which was being built as the clash that would decide the title, and the final seconds slipped away when a man who looks for all the world a Nordic warrior delivered the decisive blow. Atlético Madrid had suffered, they had resisted, and in truth they had probably longed for the final whistle to go, and then Alex Sørloth suddenly struck with another late winner. In doing so, he sent Atlético Madrid to the top of the table at Christmas, and their coach, staff and subordinates sprinted onto the pitch.

Barcelona’s fans, meanwhile, turned and headed straight for the exits, unable to believe what had just happened. What had happened was this: on a night when they had more than enough chances to win it, including deep into added time when Jan Oblak, the goalkeeper, had been the best player on the pitch, with Pedri, they were on a otherwise beaten. . This is the first time they have ever fallen at the hands of a Diego Simeone-led Atlético team and it hurt.

For Atlético, meanwhile, it was a liberation, perhaps even the call of fate. The perfect night, Oblak called it. How quickly this had changed, how unexpected. How significant too, and not just here, but the season.

Life had changed for both these sides since the end of October and the league had changed with it. Barcelona had been through what Hansi Flick described as “shit November”, but then also got beaten in December and at home against relegation threatened Leganes. Through six games they had collected just five out of a possible eighteen points, a title that seemed lost after the clásico was apparently lost in record time; Atlético, meanwhile, had won eleven in a row, six out of six in La Liga. From ten points down, they were level with a game in hand.

After all, this would be a battle for the league. “It’s a key moment and we will be ready,” Flick had said, and his players seemed determined to prove him right, even in the absence of Lamine Yamal. They hadn’t won any of the four games he had missed and it had to be different. A few days off was designed to “clear their minds”, he said. Here they flew into Atlético, an intensity in everything they did that had been absent of late. Gavi, Fermin Lopez and Raphinha led the charge, the latter swinging in repeated deliveries. Behind, Pedri played at his own pace, at once fast and slow, as if he could let the storm come and also let it roll past him.

It felt fitting that he should open the scoring just before the half-hour mark. He started from the left, slid inside, played the ball into Gavi and kept running. Gavis’ return to him would have been a great first touch on the turn if he meant it, but it’s more likely luck. Regardless, Pedri saw first – Pedri saw everything first – and, rushing into the area where Marcos Llorente and Clement Lenglet tried but failed to close the doors, steered the shot beyond Oblak and into the bottom corner.

This was more like the Barcelona of the big night, the team that beat Madrid and Bayern, not the one that lost to Leganes and Las Palmas. Twice Conor Gallagher had already had to dive in to stop Raphinha, blocking a shot after two minutes and stopping his run just before the goal. That said, Raphinha later got her revenge with a nutmeg on Gallagher.

José María Giménez and Lenglet had also been involved often, just to keep Barcelona at the goal, but unable to venture out of their sleeves. Robert Lewandowski headed over, Gavi headed wide and a lovely Pedri pass looked to have released Raphinha, but Lenglet was there again. And Oblak parried away Inigo Martínez’s throbbing shot. While Atlético came close to putting runners into space a couple of times, it was mostly about resisting until Gallagher and Javi Galan just on the stroke of half time laid up for Julián Álvarez who sprinted in to turn his shot just wide over from close range.

The second half brought a different wave rather than a reaction and it was Pedri who controlled the tide. He played in Fermin in the very first minute, only for Oblak to save with his foot and clip a superb pass that put Raphinha away. The Brazilian lifted it over the goalkeeper, but the ball came back off the crossbar.

On the touchline, Simeone was preparing his first change, as it usually is when games change, just not like this. More substitutes have scored for Atlético than any other team; this time the threat alone was enough. Koke and Nahuel Molina stood waiting to be introduced as Atlético leveled out of nowhere. Rodrigo De Paul, likely a candidate to be pulled back, made Álvarez rush up the left, beyond the defence. His curling ball was cut out by Marc Casado, who only served to tee it up for De Paul to side-foot it into the corner.

The score was different but the game was still not what Simeone was looking for, the sense of danger all the more acute as Giménez had been forced off. Barcelona should have taken the lead when Raphinha crossed to Ferran Torres, who laid it for Lewandowski. Alone, barely three yards out, he somehow failed to make proper contact on the ball. Moments later, Atlético could say the same when Álvarez set up Pablo Barrios, a wonderful chance saved by Inaki Pena. A goal seemed likely: nobody had scored more in the last fifteen minutes than these two, 13 for Atletico, 12 for Barcelona.

The question was perhaps who would get there first. For whoever did, the top of the table awaited. Barcelona were the best bet, and certainly all the more determined to seek the winner. Dani Olmo worked space for a shot that bent just over and then, with five minutes remaining, Raphinha was suddenly clear in space and the Olympic Stadium came to its feet. Oblak saved somehow, and again a moment later when Pedri came in, neatly controlling Olmo’s ball through the forest of feet. This was definitely it. Again, however, Oblak was there. On the sidelines, Marcus Sorg, the Barcelona assistant coach, jumped like Yosemite Sam, unable to grasp this.

What followed next was even more unlikely, the square suddenly open, Sørloth there to finish it off.