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Barcelona and Atlético Madrid played a hard-fought match that ended in a 1-1 draw at Camp Nou on Wednesday, with goals from Ivan Rakitic and Ángel Correa. The two teams played hard and well, and each deserved a point from this game. Thanks to Real Madrid also dropping points on the night, it wasn't the worst result for either side.
FIRST HALF
From the very first minute, it was clear that Barça would need to be very patient. Despite going with three forwards up front, Simeone still asked his team to defend deep and crowd the box for most of the half. The Blaugrana needed to pass the ball from side to side and move without it to find spaces, and they knew that very few chances would come around.
After 40 minutes of patient play, Barça got the reward for their smart efforts. A short corner-kick came into the foot of Andrés Iniesta, and the captain played a phenomenal cross to a wide-open Ivan Rakitic, who headed the ball away from Jan Oblak to put the Catalan giants ahead.
At halftime, a hard-fouth game, totally controlled and deservedly won by the hosts. There were still 45 minutes to play, however.
SECOND HALF
The first 15 minutes of the final period were a complete disaster for Barça, who lost Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets to injuries, and then Ángel Correa found himself in front of goal and tied the game. Crazy stuff.
Barça struggled a bit to regroup after conceding, but picked up the pace again and went forward looking for the game-winning goal. The Atleti defense stayed strong and didn't allow Barça to find the back of the net, and the game ended with both teams winning a point in a hard-fought battle.
Barcelona: Ter Stegen | Roberto, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba | Busquets (Gomes), Rakitic, Iniesta | Messi (Arda), Suárez Neymar
Goal: Rakitic (41')
Atlético: Oblak | Juanfran, Savic, Godín, Filipe Luís | Gabi, Koke, Saúl (Torres) | Griezmann, Gameiro (Correa), Carrasco (Thomas)
Goal: Correa (61')