Barcelona continue their brilliant form since Xavi announced he was leaving as they end Atletico Madrid’s unbeaten home record in emphatic style with Joao Felix opening scoring in 3-0 win to send Catalans second

Barcelona’s extraordinary revival since Xavi announced he would leave at the end of the season continued with an emphatic 3-0 win over Atletico Madrid.

Diego Simeone’s side had suffered just two points per home loss all season and were on a high after Wednesday night’s epic win over Inter Milan, but they were a tired and confused mess in the second half as they tried to respond to Joao Felix, but failed to respond. opening goal.

Barcelona took the lead after 38 minutes and it had to be him who scored. The Portuguese attacker is under contract with Atletico until 2029, but he will never be welcomed back. All his touches were whistled, both before and after he calmly converted from Robert Lewandowski’s clever cross following a flying run from Ilkay Gundogan.

Joao Felix wasn’t celebrating, he was too close to Atletico’s most vocal supporters for that, but the damage had already been done. Atletico had missed several half-chances in the first period. Pablo Barrios shot over the top and Alvaro Morata sent one effort just wide.

Simeone had left a number of Wednesday evening’s heroes on the bench, but Memphis Depay and Antoine Griezmann came on after the break with Koke not far behind them. It didn’t change anything. Barcelona scored their second in minute 47. Raphinha played through Lewandowski and he brilliantly turned to score from the far post for his 13th goal of the season.

Fermin Lopez scored Barcelona’s third goal as they comfortably defeated Atletico Madrid 3-0

Xavi was sent off in the first half for repeated dissent, but his side climbed to second place

He is back to the form he showed at the start of last season and that bodes well for the rest of the season for Barcelona. He wasn’t finished with his contribution either: he sent a cross from the right and Fermin Lopez headed in the third goal.

Simeone had already made four of his five changes. He played his last card when he brought on Saul and the out-of-control midfielder had a chance to reduce the margin but shot wide.

The Atletico coach had changed his system at various points during the match, but the switch from 5-3-2 to 4-4-2 and then back again seemed to confuse his own players far more than the opposition.

Apart from Saul’s late chance, Atletico had not caused too many problems for Barcelona. Marc Andre ter Stegen came down very well to push away a shot from Marcos Llorente, but the German keeper could do little.

For Xavi it ​​was another victory against Simeone. Since taking over as Barcelona coach, he has beaten him five times. The last three were 1-0 defeats. This defeat will hurt even more when I come home and have been so emphatic.

The only downside in Xavi’s evening was his direct red card in the first half. He had already been booked for dissent and left when he said a little too much to the fourth official. He will be banned again – no coach has been warned so many times since taking charge at Barcelona.

Despite the miserable result, Atletico supporters were bouncing up and down behind Jan Oblak’s goal until the final whistle – that’s what an epic Champions League victory over Inter in the last 16 can do for you.

Atletico fans bounced up and down in support of Diego Simeone’s side until the whistle

Atletico’s Nahuel Molina was sent off in stoppage time at the Metropolitano Stadium

The thrill of that victory took the sting out of defeat for the supporters and there was no doubt that Simeone would give almost anything to finally win his first Champions League.

The question is: will they have to sacrifice a place in the top four? With this result they go into the break for international football, where they finish fifth and fall outside the Champions League places. Maybe they have to win it to be there next season.