30′ CHANCE! Coutinho clips a cross into the box for Depay and the Dutchman does well to nod it across the face of goal. De Jong tries to reach it on the stretch, but the ball just evades his right boot before travelling wide of the right post.
28′ SUAREZ HAS TO SCORE! The Uruguayan latches on to a sublime pass from Joao Felix after turning away from Mingueza. He curls his effort away from Ter Stegen, but it travels wide of the post. Suarez had to hit target there.
27′ CLOSE! Coutinho almost levels the scores. The Brazilian latches on to a clearing header from Gimenez and stabs a right-footed strike towards goal. He connects well with his effort, but it just travels the wrong side of the left post.
25′ Busquets makes an important challenge in the Barcelona half to halt Joao Felix on the move. Atletico had space there to exploit had the Portuguese beaten the veteran midfielder.
23′ Suarez latches on to an offload from Joao Felix before he threads a pass through to Lemar, who controls and blasts an effort past Ter Stegen.
T. Lemar
Goal
23′ GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!! LEMAR FIRES ATLETICO AHEAD!!!!! 1-0!!!! The home side take the lead as the Frenchman thumps a left-footed strike into the top-right corner. A neat interchange between Joao Felix and Suarez allows the latter to release Lemar into the left-inside channel. He holds his composure to blast his effort past Ter Stegen into the net. Busquets and Pique exchange words after the fact about who was picking up the forward.
22′ Busquets attempts to thread the needle with a throughball for Coutinho, but Oblak is sharp off his line to gather ahead of the Brazilian.
21′ Koke swings a deep cross into the box, which proves to be too powerful and travels well over the bar.
Gavi
Yellow Card
20′ Gavi barges into Lemar on the left flank with a strong challenge. The referee brandishes the yellow card.
19′ Gonzalez steps away from a challenge and fires towards goal from the edge of the box. It deflects behind off Gimenez, despite the efforts of Oblak to prevent it heading out.
17′ WIDE! Mingueza loses out to Carrasco on the left flank and the Belgian tees up Joao Felix on the edge of the box. The Portuguese fires low and hard towards the bottom-left corner, but it just drifts wide of the target.
15′ Busquets looks for the run of Mingueza on the right flank, but the full-back is well beyond the last Atletico defender and is caught offside.
12′ Neither team have been able to build a passing rhythm. Barca have settled into the contest defensively, which will please Koeman after their midweek defeat.
10′ Joao Felix makes a break down the left flank and he tries to send a reverse pass towards the run of Lemar. However, Araujo reads the danger and makes the interception.
8′ WIDE! Lemar makes a good run behind the Barcelona defence. He plays a one-two with Suarez and then Llorente to surge towards the edge of the box. The Frenchman fires an effort low and hard towards goal, but it just travels wide of the right post.
6′ Araujo is fortunate to escape a booking for pulling back Joao Felix in the Barcelona half. The defender grappled with the Portuguese and was in a bad situation, forcing him to commit the foul.
5′ Koke floats a cross to the back post for the run of Llorente, but he just overhits his delivery out for a goal-kick.
4′ Joao Felix tries to turn away from Mingueza in the final third, but the defender brings down the Atletico forward. Atletico have a free-kick in a useful position.
3′ BLOCK! Dest raids down the left flank and works the ball to Coutinho on the edge of the box. The Brazilian goes for a strike at goal, which is charged down by Gimenez.
1′ We’re under way at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Atletico Madrid have not lost any of their last three meetings with Barcelona in LaLiga (W1 D2), their best unbeaten run against them in the competition since five games between September 2004 and December 2006 (W3 D2).
Barca have made four changes to their side from their defeat to Benfica. Pedri is out with an injury and replaced by Gonzalez in the middle of the park. Gavi gets the nod to start in the final third in place of De Jong, while Coutinho also comes into the fold. Mingueza slots into the right side of the defence as Garcia is withdrawn after his dismissal during the week.
Atletico have made four changes to their side from their win over Milan during the week. Savic, De Paul, Lemar and Felix all come into the side in place of Geoffrey Kondogbia, Trippier, Felipe and Correa. Kondogbia misses out this evening, while the others drop to the bench. Suarez starts against his former club, although Griezmann will begin from the sidelines.
BARCELONA SUBS: Riqui Puig, Ansu Fati, Yusuf Demir, Neto, Clement Lenglet, Luuk de Jong, Jordi Alba, Sergi Roberto, Samuel Umtiti, Eric Garcia, Inaki Pena.
BARCELONA (4-3-3): Marc-Andre ter Stegen; Oscar Mingueza, Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo, Sergino Dest; Frenkie de Jong, Sergio Busquets, Nicolas Gonzalez; Pablo Gaviria, Memphis Depay, Philippe Coutinho.
ATLETICO MADRID SUBS: Benjamin Lecomte, Antoine Griezmann, Angel Correa, Renan Lodi, Hector Herrera, Ivan Saponjic, Felipe, Kieran Trippier, Sime Vrsaljko.
ATLETICO MADRID (3-1-4-2): Jan Oblak; Stefan Savic, Jose Gimenez, Mario Hermoso; Koke; Marcos Llorente, Rodrigo de Paul, Thomas Lemar, Yannick Carrasco; Luis Suarez, Joao Felix.
Ronald Koeman is under immense pressure after his side slumped to a 3-0 defeat to Benfica during the week in the Champions League, enduring their second defeat in a row in the competition. The Catalan club are unbeaten in LaLiga in their opening six matches, but are off the pace of the leading pack. Barca were on form against Levante last time out in LaLiga and are desperate for a stellar performance to silence their critics.
Atletico have been hit and miss at the start of the LaLiga campaign, although they have taken 14 points from their opening seven matches. Diego Simeone’s men suffered their first defeat of the season last week against Alaves, losing 1-0 on the road. Los Rojiblancos responded with an impressive 2-1 win over Milan in the Champions League. They now have the chance to turn the screw on a under-fire Barca to regain the ground of Real Madrid at the top of the table.
Good evening and welcome to the live commentary of the LaLiga clash between Atletico Madrid and Barcelon at the Wanda Metropolitano.
L. Suárez
Assist