Staff Reporter.
Barcelona’s Joao Felix scored in the first half to secure a hard-fought 1-0 home win against his valiant parent club Atletico Madrid in a compelling LaLiga clash on Sunday.
The Portuguese forward, on a season-long loan from Atletico, dinked the ball over Jan Oblak from a tight angle in the 28th minute.
“I couldn’t believe [when the fans chanted his name],” Felix said after the match. “I know how great this club is and to have your name chanted is not something that happens to many. I’m delighted.”
Memphis Depay went close to an Atletico equaliser against his old club, but his free-kick was tipped on to the frame of the goal by Inaki Pena.
Barca could have won by more had Robert Lewandowski taken some great chances.
“It hurts. We threw away the first half,” Jan Oblak said after the match. “If we’d have played a bit in the first half, we would have had a chance. We were poor and we were punished for that.
“I don’t understand why. The idea was to go and play and I don’t know what happened to us. Not one of us played well in the first half, not one of us wanted the ball.”
Barcelona moved above Atletico into third place on 34 points, four behind leaders Real Madrid and Girona. Atletico are fourth on 31 points with a game in hand.