Fermín López Double Fires Barcelona Past Atlético 2-1 to Open Three-Point Gap at the Top

The Metropolitano was rocking, Atlético were ahead, and for the first half-hour on Sunday night it looked like the champions were about to be dragged into the kind of fight they usually lose in this stadium. Then Fermín López decided otherwise.

Giuliano Simeone had fired the hosts in front after ten minutes, turning home Julián Álvarez's low cross from close range, and the noise that followed it felt like a warning. Atlético, two points behind at kick-off, could leapfrog the champions with a win. Real Madrid had already beaten Valencia 3-0 on Saturday to draw level on points, so defeat here would have sent Barcelona into the international break looking up at both of their great rivals.

It could have been worse before it got better. Álvarez rounded Joan García early on but could not finish, and from the resulting corner Marc Pubill headed against the crossbar with García beaten. At the other end Pedri crashed a strike against the woodwork after being fed by Lamine Yamal.

Atlético, though, had the lead, and for long stretches of the first half they had the better of it. Álvarez came close to a second, his shot fumbled by García before the goalkeeper gathered it. Yamal blasted into the side-netting from a tight angle, and Raphinha, the champions' main goalscorer this season, was kept quiet all evening by Diego Simeone's defence.

And then, out of nothing, the game turned. López's path to the box was blocked, but the ball bounced loose to the midfielder and he smashed a strike past Jan Oblak to level it just before the interval.

The second half belonged to the visitors. Álvarez lobbed over the crossbar when clean through, a miss he would come to rue within minutes. In the 66th minute Yamal played a clever pass through Atlético's defence, and López kept his cool to beat the onrushing Oblak for the second time. Two goals, both from the 23-year-old Spain international, and the champions were in front.

Atlético pushed, as they always do in this stadium, but Barcelona kept them at bay well in the final stages. It was López's seventh league goal in only 11 top-flight appearances this season, a return that keeps growing louder with every big game he decides.

"Coming off last season, when they beat us... we knew what they were going to offer — a very difficult game," López told Movistar afterwards. "It got tricky in the first half with their goal, but I think we knew how to come back and we had a great match."

Atlético captain Koke was left to reflect on the chances his side had let slip. "We had chances to kill off the game and we didn't take them," he said. "That's football — it's about being clinical, and they were more clinical than we were."

The defeat was Atlético's first in LaLiga since September 5, and it leaves them third on 28 points, five behind Barcelona, who move on to 33 with Real Madrid second on 30. Last season Atlético defeated Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals and in the Copa del Rey; this was a measure of revenge, and a statement that the title race will go through the champions. The night belonged to López, and to a Barcelona side that found a way to win when, for long stretches, they were second best.