Barcelona and Atalanta had to share points after drawing 2-2 in the matchday 8 League Phase of the 2024/2025 Champions League held at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Wednesday (29/1/2025).
Barca took the lead twice through Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo. However, Atalanta put up fierce resistance by equalizing twice through goals from Ederson and Mario Pasalic.
Thanks to this result, Barca ended the League Phase in second place with 19 points and qualified directly for the last 16. Meanwhile, Atalanta finished in ninth place with 15 points and had to go through the play-off round.
The match was quite balanced from the start. Atalanta managed to score a goal in the 36th minute through Davide Zappacosta. However, this goal was disallowed by VAR for offside. The score remained 0-0 until halftime.
Less than two minutes into the second half, Barca successfully opened the lead through Yamal’s action receiving Raphinha’s crossing.
Atalanta equalized in the 67th minute through Ederson before Araujo restored Barca’s lead to 2-1 five minutes later.
Atalanta did not give up easily. The visitors managed to equalize the score again through Pasalic’s goal in the 79th minute. The final score of the match was a 2-2 draw.
Lamine Yamal was chosen as the best player from the Barcelona vs Atalanta duel.
The UEFA chose Yamal as the best player from this match. Yamal showed an impressive performance as Barca’s right winger.
“He showed abundant vision, technique, strength, quality and maturity.” was the UEFA ’s assessment.
Yamal was recorded as having made four successful dribbles, the most in this match. The 17-year-old player was also the player who was fouled the most by opponents (four times). Yamal was also recorded as having won 10 duels, the most in this match.
This match is proof of Atalanta’s toughness and Barcelona’s unstable performance.
Barcelona appeared less convincing in the first half, with slow and unorganized attacks.
Although not defeated, Barcelona’s performance still leaves a question mark. “We faced a great team with a great philosophy. Now, we wait and see what the route is going forward,” said Flick.
“Today I saw many things that we did well, but also some things that could be better. After every game, we have to be better going forward.”
Hansi Flick itted that he was satisfied with Barcelona’s second-place finish in the league standings. However, the German coach realized that his team still had many things to improve, especially in the defense sector.
“I am happy with the second place in the league. This is a big success for the team. Today was a difficult match. I think we could have played better, but overall, we are satisfied with the result and qualifying as runners-up,” said Flick in a post-match press conference, as quoted by Diario AS.
Flick also praised Atalanta’s game which he considered very solid, especially in defending one-on-one. “This must have been a good match because Atalanta defended well one-on-one. We learned a lot from this match to prepare for the future,” he added.
