Wednesday November 27, 2024

Late Dembele goal saves Barca in the Wanda

Published : 25 Nov 2018, 02:47

  DF-Xinhua Report
File Photo Xinhua.

Ousmane Dembele scored a last minute goal to give FC Barcelona a vital point on their visit to Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano Stadium on Saturday night.

Atletico had looked to be on the way to a scarcely deserved win as they failed to create anything from open play after Diego Costa headed them ahead following a 77th minute corner taken by Antoine Griezmann.

Until that moment, Diego Simeone's side had been happy to surrender the ball to Barca, who were unable to create anything against a packed midfield and defense in what in fairness was a dull game until Costa's goal.

Dembele came on as a late substitute for Barca and finally found space to take a pass from Leo Messi before beating Jan Oblak with a low shot.

The first 45 minutes failed to produce a single shot on target, with Atletico not even shooting at the goal defended by Ter Stegen, but they were moments away from a win which would have taken them to the top of the table.

As things stand, Barca sleep as leaders, and Sevilla could go top on Sunday if they can beat Valladolid.

Earlier in the day Santiago Solari's honeymoon as Real Madrid coach came to an abrupt end with a 3-0 defeat away to Eibar, who dominated from start to finish and opened the scoring thanks to Gonzalo Escalante's close range finish.

The game was over following a contest 12 minutes after the break when Sergi Enrich and Kike Garcia added further goals for the Basque team, with both of the goals coming after passes from left back Marc Cucurella.

It was the first game since Santiago Solari was confirmed as Madrid coach on a permanent basis and after the game Solari admitted his side "had not played well and we accept that."

Valencia secured their first home win of the season with a 3-0 triumph against struggling Rayo Vallecano.

Santi Mina scored twice and Kevin Gameiro got a much-needed goal to give Marcelino Garcia Toral's team a much-needed boost up the table.

Huesca remain without a home win after Levante twice pegged them back in the El Alcaraz Stadium.

Christian Rivera and Xabi Etxeita twice put Huesca ahead, but Levante took a point thanks to goals from top scorer Roger Marti and Emmanuel Boateng.