21 May 2007, by Sean Gillen

Barcelona hit Atletico for six

Atletico Madrid 0-6 Barcelona

Barcelona reaffirmed their title ambitions with an incredible 6-0 hammering of Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon on Sunday evening.

The champions went into the game needing a win to stay on level terms with leaders Real Madrid, and Barca responded with a master class of a display against their recent bogey team.

A rainy evening in Madrid made conditions difficult for both sides, but after the early stages passed with little action, Barca began to find their rhythm. Ronaldinho, much maligned in recent months, cracked a free-kick off the post, with Lionel Messi firing the rebound at Atletico goalkeeper Pichu.

Fernando Torres had Atletico’s first real sight of goal when he cut in onto his right foot and shot straight at Victor Valdes, before Barca scored three times in the final seven minutes of the half as rookie ‘keeper Pichu had a disastrous spell in the home goal.

Maniche injury

The goal came at a crucial moment, as Atletico’s Portuguese midfielder Maniche had gone off injured, with manager Javier Aguirre yet to introduce a replacement. Messi was the scorer, playing a neat one-two with Eto’o before coolly firing into the corner in the 37th minute.

The lead was doubled four minutes later when Lillian Thuram’s long ball found Gianluca Zambrotta on the edge of the box and, with Pichu well out of position, the Italian lifted the ball over the goalkeeper and into the net.

Barca’s Portuguese midfielder Deco has been one of the figures in the team criticised for his recent form, but the former Porto man went some way to replaying the side by playing a role in both of the following two goals.

Ronaldinho fed Deco down the inside-left of the penalty area and the Brazilian-born midfielder crossed into the danger area, only for Pichu to miss the flight of the ball and leave Eto’o to stab into an empty net.

Aguirre introduced Argentine wonderkid Aguero at half time, but Barca were back to their confident best and Ronaldinho got his name on the scoresheet with the goal of the game in the 57th minute. The Brazilian received a pass from Deco twenty metres from goal and the swift nature of Ronaldinho’s exchange with Eto’o left him with the simple task of beating Pichu from close range.

With the match finished as a contest, Deco was substituted over twenty minutes remaining, but Barca were not finished yet. Atletico had Eller sent off for two bookings before Los Cules exploited Atletico’s high line twice in the final ten minutes, with Messi chipping Pichu for the fifth and Eto’o squaring for Iniesta to slide in the sixth in the final minute.

Frank Rijkaard (Barcelona manager):

“The team won and has come away with a result that was essential for us. With this victory, we still have plenty of hopes. We were capable of playing a good match with a team that normally does things well. We played intelligently today and the result was fantastic for us.”

Javier Aguirre (Atletico Madrid manager):

“It was a dark night for everyone. It’s not easy to accept a score like that. None of us in the locker room are satisfied with anything that happened. With the score 0-3 we lost our positioning, our physical effort and our spirits. We were easy prey for Barcelona.”

Atletico Madrid:
Cuellar, Seitaridis, Ze Castro, Fabiano Eller, Antonio Lopez, Luccin, Maniche (Maxi, 40), Galletti (Agüero, 46), Petrov (Mista 70), Jurado, Fernando Torres
Yellow Cards: Seitaridis (6), Luccin (71), Fabiano Eller (31 and 71)
Red Cards: Eller (71)

Barcelona:
Victor Valdes, Zambrotta, Puyol, Thuram, Gio, Edmilson (Motta 77), Xavi (Gudjohnsen, 81), Deco (Iniesta 67), Ronaldinho, Messi, Eto’o
Yellow Cards: None