La Liga: FC Barcelona 0-0 Atletico Madrid: Player Ratings

Considering all the action in this game it's remarkable how little Valdes had to do. He only had to make two saves, both of them fairly routine. Throughout the game he was a very good calming presence which was especially helpful at one point in the second half, when Barcelona in quick succession gave up three chances. I have to take half a mark off of Valdes' rating because of his passing, because he once again barely climbed over the 50% completion rate.

Making his first appearance since 22 December of last year Alves looked a bit rusty in the first half. He was caused all kinds of problems by Filipe Luis, but as the game went on the Brazilian started playing better. It even showed in the attacking phase of the game where Alves was nonexistent in the first half. His passing was mostly on the mark, but there were a couple occasions where he was at fault for stopping a Barça attack. While Alves' defending was mostly good he did manage to pick up his fifth yellow card of the season which will force the Brazilian to miss Barça's next La Liga game.

Another game that makes me wonder why Pique can't always play at this level. Six tackles, two interceptions and six clearances are numbers of a truly dominating performance. He handled the beast that is Diego Costa very well, making a good one-on-one tackle early in the game and blocking what would've been a dangerous shot midway through the first half. The fact that Pique was on a few occasions involved on offense is just a bonus. His long range shot in the 34th minute could've been a catalyst for Barcelona, but nobody was in the vicinity to bury the rebound. 

Before the start of the match the decision to start Mascherano cause quite an uproar, but by the end of the game Mascherano was praised for his performance. Co-leading the team in tackles the Argentine was a cog defensively, but it has to be said that he was far from certain when it came to the air game where he won only a third of the battles he was involved in. That's an area of the game Mascherano will never excel in, but he has to do better than that. He can count himself a little bit lucky not to sustain a serious injury after an inadvertent punch to the head that caused him to stay on the ground for quite some time.

I was surprised how little Alba offered in attack. It's not that he wasn't involved in the play, but his overlapping runs were missing as they could've opened up Atletico nicely, though some credit has to be given to Atletico for their positioning and not allowing those runs. Defensively Alba also struggled at times. Arda especially found it very easy to get past the left-back on a couple occasions . However, Jordi did make a few good defensive plays, including clearing a couple dangerous chances. And he won both air duels with Diego Costa!

Busquets had his work cutout as Atlético constantly pushed men forward to try and interrupt Barça’s passing game. With the Madrid side being one of the best counter-attacking team in the league, Sergio also had to be very wary of preventing Atlético from breaking. The pivote was crucial to stopping Barcelona from being punished, making six tackles and three interceptions. As usual his passing was of the highest quality, 95% success rate and over 75 completed passes.

During the first half, Xavi didn’t see as much of the ball as he has become accustomed to, largely due to the majority of Barcelona’s play going through his midfield partner Iniesta. But during the second half, Xavi began to see more of the ball. Especially further up the field, were he found himself with space in the penalty area but he hit his volley into the ground and it was saved easily. The most completed passes on the field, over 100, but Atlético did a great job of marking the Barça veteran.

Iniesta was Barcelona’s best player during the first half whilst also being the most kicked player on the field. Integral to Barcelona’s quick passing play, the Barcelona number eight was an important outsource for when Atlético were pressing high. Atléti’s players seem to notice this and began the hard treatment on him, three separate challenges left him on the floor and Barcelona’s twitter confirmed the playmaker had a bruised leg which required further tests. Iniesta left for Messi during the interval but would’ve been a big player if he made it to the second half.

A forgettable hour from the Chilean who, on the back of this performance, has probably slipped out of Barcelona's strongest starting line-up.

Hard-working, versatile, but not quite spectacular. Cesc Fabregas had all the ingredients for a good performance, but lacked that final spark to cook up a storm in the Vicente Calderon.

Easily Barcelona's best offensive player, Pedro was Barca's biggest threat all throughout the game and it was a surprise to see him exit the field with less than ten minutes to play.

Far from his best, Messi missed a good chance to put Barcelona into the head after a great cross from Jordi Alba, and failed to really test Courtois with his other two opportunities -- a free-kick and an off-balance strike from just inside the area.

Barcelona might just be kicking themselves this morning, as Atletico Madrid were there for the taking. But on the other hand, the Blaugrana remain on top of La Liga and will be happy knowing that the fate of the title very much remains in their hands.

Starting Mascherano was a touch of genius, and while the point was not ideal, Martino sent out a team that never looked in danger of losing.

With over two-fifths of the vote, Gerard Pique claimed the Man of the Match award ahead of Javier Mascherano (25%) and Victor Valdes (10%).