Barcelona-Athletic | Madrid win at the Camp Nou

The worst that could happen for Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid was staged at the Camp Nou with a scoreless draw between two teams that were looking for LaLiga and that yesterday decided that if they win it, it will be due to the future absence of Real Madrid, the maximum benefit yesterday from a meeting in which both parties were more afraid of being a hero than of being wrong. Atlético and Barça avoided their duties and decided that, in any case, if Madrid gave them LaLiga, they would accept it. But to go to go, is silly. That in the decisive match of the championship the clock was looked at thinking when it was going to end a big rock, gives food for thought.

Each of the two coaches offered a surprise in their starting eleven, who in principle saw to settle an approach by both parties that showed that it was a big day at the Camp Nou. Day, as General Prim said, from “box or girdle”: either you ended up in the pine box or you won the girdle of general in battle.

So, when it was seen that Barcelona came out with Mingueza instead of Araújo to give priority to control of the ball over Araújo's physique, it seemed like a daring bet. The same was the case with Atlético, where Simeone, who had rehearsed all week with Kondogbia, surprised by bringing Correa into the starting team.

On paper, a great game was going to be seen, because both teams on D-day decided to go on the attack. But one thing is what is raised on paper and another what happened in about 45 minutes of more than respect between both teams. Koeman and Simeone went out to what is now called maturing the game, which is nothing more than going out with a 15-pound shit.

Patience prevailed on both sides while waiting for the opponent's error. From the start, neither team seemed to have learned the lesson from Granada or San Mamés. The fear of losing was stronger than the desire to win.

Where if the technicians had to intervene earlier than they had planned it was before the respective injuries of Lemar and Busquets. The Frenchman was injured muscularly before the quarter of an hour Saúl entered his place. The loss of Barça was much more sensitive, both for the affected and for the substitute. Busquets fell half an hour into the game after a blow to the head against Savic and Barça lost what was being their best man so far. In his place entered Ilaix, who took the entire first part to understand where he was and that he does not have, by any means, the resources of Badia's.

Faced with this change of scenery, Atlético went up a march to exploit the disastrous right side of Barça, where Dest and Mingueza no longer had anyone to correct them.

Atlético approached through Carrasco forcing Ter Stegen to stop more scares than balls while Barça remained inane in attack, except for a start by Messi, who dismounted six athletic defenders before Oblak sent the only Blaugrana shot in the first half to a corner.

The feeling at halftime was that someone needed to decide to go for the game. Barça, to do so, had to change many things, Atlético had to be aware of what they were playing.

Koeman withdrew Mingueza from the field to admit Araújo and Barcelona noticed that he was gaining more weight in the match. The Blaugrana defense closed the gap at the end of the first half and in attack, despite the fact that the game continued to live in the territory of prudence, it was Koeman's team that stepped on the area the most. Ilaix and Piqué forced Oblak to intervene with his proven solvency and Araújo saw a goal annulled offside. In a reckless fit, Koeman gave Dembélé ten minutes, and Simeone discovered that he had Joao Félix on the bench. Nothing changed, the final 0-0 was only celebrated by Real Madrid.