In a thrilling La Liga match on Sunday, Barcelona‘s Joao Felix scored in the first half to earn a hard-fought 1-0 victory at home against his heroic parent club Atletico Madrid.
The Portuguese, who was sent to Barca on loan from Diego Simeone’s team, scored in the 28th minute with a beautiful dinked finish over goalkeeper Jan Oblak and did not hold back when he celebrated his goal with the cheering supporters at home.
“It came about on its own. During the match, Felix said to Movistar Plus, “It felt like a relief for everything I’ve gone through this summer.”
“My family is the ones who know me the best and have experienced the most of what I have. Thus, the objective was devoted to them.
“When the fans chanted his name, I was astounded. I am aware of how amazing this club is, and it is not common for someone to have their name chanted. I’m overjoyed.”
Barca passed Atletico to take third position with 34 points, four points behind leaders Girona and Real Madrid.
With a game remaining, Atletico is currently fourth on 31 points.
In response to criticism from supporters unhappy with Barcelona’s recent performance, Xavi Hernandez‘s team performed admirably in the first half, controlling play and creating multiple opportunities.
Barca pressed high at first and lost a great chance to take the lead in the second minute when Raphinha had a one-on-one with Oblak but misplayed his pass and fired a close-range shot wide of the far post.
In a high-stakes match that saw both teams push for the first goal and get exposed on the counter, Robert Lewandowski missed a clear opportunity from close range in the 12th minute and had another one denied by the visiting defense two minutes later.
When Pedri stole the ball and sent a long pass to Jules Kounde, who was sprinting up the right, Raphinha saw Felix darting up the left channel against an uncoordinated defense, and that’s how the hosts scored in the 28th minute.
Felix, who was playing for Brazil, defeated Jose Maria Gimenez, the last man, in a challenge to maintain position in front of Oblak. Felix then chipped the ball past the stranded keeper and into the empty net.
With more than 65% of the play, Barca maintained control and had a chance to take the lead before halftime, but Oblak stopped Felix’s point-blank first-time attempt in the 44th minute with a spectacular one-handed save on the goal-line.
Simeone made three changes at halftime due to heat exhaustion, but Barcelona maintained their lead after Raphinha’s long-range effort struck the post in the 55th minute.
But because of the game’s intense intensity in the first three quarters, Barca appeared to be running out of steam as the minutes went by. Atletico took advantage of this and launched a valiant late effort to draw even with new players coming off the bench.
But they were frustrated by Inaki Pena, the inspired goalkeeper for Barca who came in for the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen. He produced several saves, two of which came in stoppage time to deny Memphis Depay and Angel Correa, to guarantee Barca the victory.
“We wasted the first half of the game because nobody wanted the ball,” Oblak said to Movistar Plus. “We didn’t shoot well in the first half and it hurts a lot. We didn’t start well either.
“If we had played a little better in the first half we might have had a chance but our play was bad and we were punished.”