Barcelona is four points ahead of Real with a game in hand, and the latest victory is especially valuable because it came in the derby.
The Catalans defeated Atletico Madrid 3-1 in the 19th round of La Liga, at a half-capacity Camp Nou stadium, in a match filled with numerous chances and big misses, and, as expected, interesting football.
The guests took the lead in the 19th minute. A brilliant counter-attack catapulted Argentine Alex Baena straight at goalkeeper Joan Garcia, and the former Villarreal player made no mistake - 0:1.
Barça reacted immediately, and in some way - through recovered aces. Pedri masterfully passed to Rafinha, who bypassed Jan Oblak and in the 19th minute it was 1:1.
In a sea of big misses, the biggest one came in the 36th minute - Lewandowski took a penalty kick and sent the ball a meter over the crossbar - into the south, packed stand of the renovated stadium.
The second half began with big misses by Rafinha on one side and Giuliano Simeone on the other, and then the moment that changed the match happened - Dani Olmo hit the bottom corner in the 65th minute after a pass from Lewandowski.
There was no end to the excitement and misses. Atletico's Argentine Thiago Almada did everything himself in the final moments of the match, and then missed the entire goal to equalize.
The penalty was swift and cruel - Ferran Torres confirmed Barcelona's victory in injury time.
Bonus video:
