Barcelona v Atletico, Getty Images 03 December 2025, 00:09

The new calendar year in football will begin, in particular, with matches for the Spanish Super Cup. However, in order not to break the schedule of the national championship, the four teams that will participate in the final part of this tournament will play their matches of the nineteenth round more than a month earlier than the others. Of course, it was impossible to avoid the confrontation between Catalan Barcelona and Atletico Madrid at Camp Nou.

The game with the participation of the first and fourth teams in the standings could not fail to capture the attention of the audience around the world. Especially if we take into account the confrontation of these groups of the last season, which could not be called anything other than rock and roll. By the way, back then, the “mattress players” did win against the “Blaugranas” once, and it happened almost a year ago, but back in Montjuic.

This time at the Camp Nou, Diego Simeone was eager to demonstrate that he, like the rest of the coaches of Barca’s rival clubs, had already thoroughly read the playing style of Hans-Dieter Flick’s team and found an antidote to it. Atlético tried to act with quick passes to the attack line behind the defenders, and it worked already in the 19th minute, when Baena ran away from Molina’s pass from his own half and beat Juan Garcia already in the penalty area. At first, the midfielder was found offside, but then the goal was scored.

Before that, Barcelona dominated the ball, so they definitely did not plan to give it up. Something remained to be done only with the passes for aggravation, and Pedri began to answer for this already on the 26th minute, when he drove Rafinha to the right flank of the foreign penalty area, where he beautifully beat Oblak, after which he rolled the ball into an empty net. A quick recovery from the deficit on the part of the Catalans later turned into an increase in pressure in the other half.

And on this wave of success, the home team could quickly turn this game around completely. Olmo did everything for this, when in the fight against Barrios on the right flank of the free-kick, he collapsed on the lawn, thereby earning a penalty, the ball was taken by Lewandowski, but the shot flew over the goal even without a signature stop with a bounce from the Pole. And in a moment, the forward had to make amends, but lost the duel to Oblak, who pulled a close header.

Thus, the determination of the winner of the game was postponed to the second half, where at first it was difficult to give an advantage to someone, but it was noticeable that Atletico more and more often tried to close in defense near their own goal, rather than attack others. However, Barca did not stop, and in the end, in the 65th minute, a quick wall by Olmo with Lewandowski in the center of the foreign penalty area ended with a shot under the right post by Dani. It’s a pity that he injured his shoulder when he fell on the lawn while taking a shot.

After that, “Matrasniki” realized that their defensive game would be of little use even for a draw, so they had to open up and expose themselves to new attacks by their opponents. Barca, by the way, was not in too much of a hurry with the last one, but they still had problems near their own goal. It was particularly poignant in the episode with Almada and his displacement along the free-kick in the 80th minute, but with such a poor strike at the end it was a futile thing to expect. And in the end, Simeone’s team did not achieve what they wanted, so they were logically finished off with a goal in stoppage time from Ferran, who closed Balde’s cross from the left wing.

In the next match, Catalan Barcelona will visit Sevilla’s Betis, while Atletico Madrid will travel to Basque Athletic in the derby.

Barcelona — Atletico 3:1
Goals: Rafinha, 26, Olmo, 65, Torres, 90+6 — Baena, 19

In the 36th minute, Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona) missed a penalty (miss).

Barcelona: J. Garcia — Kunde, Kubarsi, Martin, Balde — Pedri (Dro, 74), E. Garcia, Olmo (Rashford, 67) — Yamal (Christensen, 87), Lewandowski (Torres, 67), Rafinha (Casado, 74).

Atletico: Oblak — Molina, Jimenez, Lengle, Hanzko — Cardoso (Koke, 14, Griezmann, 75), Barrios — Simeone (Serlot, 62), Baena (Almada, 62), Gonzalez (Gallagher, 46) — Alvarez.

Warning: Martin is Baena