Barcelona reclaim La Liga summit as Fermin Lopez double defeats Atletico Madrid

Barcelona moved back to the top of La Liga with a 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano, with Fermin Lopez scoring both goals in the 12th round of the season.

Juliano Simeone gave Atletico an early lead, completing a cross from Julian Alvarez, but Fermin levelled shortly before half-time before striking again after the break to secure all three points for the visitors.

The result takes Barcelona to 33 points, while Atletico remain third on 28 points, five behind their opponents.

Alvarez’s assist for Atletico means Barcelona are now the club against whom the Argentina forward has made the most goal contributions as an Atletico Madrid player. He has been involved in seven goals against them, scoring four and providing three assists.

Barcelona have also become the only team in Europe’s five major leagues to have more than one player with at least 10 goal contributions this season. They have three players who have reached that mark.

Lamine Yamal created seven chances during the match, making him the first Barcelona player to do so in a La Liga game against Atletico Madrid since Xavi in October 2008.

Team news and match events

Barcelona began with their usual attacking trio of Lamine Yamal, Raphinha and Anthony Gordon, while Marc Bernal replaced the injured Rodri.

Atletico’s attack was led by Julian Alvarez, alongside Juliano Simeone and Alex Baena.

The match began with a minute’s silence for Jesus de Miguel, the late Tenerife striker. Play was interrupted again in the 11th minute to pay tribute to him, after Atletico had taken the lead in the ninth minute.

Barcelona came close to opening the scoring in the seventh minute when Pedri’s powerful effort struck the crossbar.

Atletico then broke the deadlock as Simeone met Alvarez’s delivery and finished past Barcelona goalkeeper Joan Garcia.

Yamal almost equalised in the 23rd minute after beating several Atletico defenders before shooting, but Jan Oblak saved to deny him.

Alvarez tested Garcia four minutes later with a powerful strike from inside the penalty area, but the Barcelona goalkeeper kept it out.

Barcelona eventually drew level just before half-time when Fermin unleashed a fierce shot into the Atletico net.

The hosts had another opportunity in the 55th minute as Alvarez went through one-on-one with Garcia, but his effort went over the crossbar.

Fermin completed his double soon afterwards. Yamal supplied an excellent pass, and Fermin applied the finish beyond Oblak to give Barcelona the lead and restore them to the top of La Liga.