Barcelona home in on title after ending Atletico run

In a slump and facing the hottest team in Spain, Barcelona came through with an important win for their title hopes and quelled any fears of a late collapse.

Barcelona ended a three-game winless streak — and Atletico Madrid’s 13-game unbeaten run — with a hard-fought 1-0 win on Sunday to stay on track for their first Spanish league title in four years.

The home win restored the team’s comfortable 11-point lead over Real Madrid with eight rounds remaining.

The victory also halted a six-game winning streak by Atletico, who lost ground to Madrid in the fight for second place.

Madrid, focused on the Champions League and the Copa del Rey final, beat Celta Vigo 2-0 at home on Saturday.

Ferran Torres scored a 44th-minute winner at Camp Nou with a well-placed low shot from just inside the area to end Barcelona’s recent problems entering the final stretch.

They hadn’t scored in three straight games after being humiliated at home by Madrid 4-0 in the Copa del Rey semi-finals and were held to scoreless draws against modest league opponents in Girona and Getafe.

“We had to win no matter what, it was an important match to keep us on track to winning the league,” Torres said.

“It was difficult, against a team that was unbeaten in 13 matches and that was one of the hottest teams this season.”

It was the 23rd clean sheet in the league for Barcelona, who last won the league title in 2019. They’ve conceded only nine goals in 30 league matches this season.

Third-place Atletico, who have the second-best defence with just 22 goals conceded, trail Madrid by five points.

It was the third straight win by Barcelona over Diego Simeone’s team, whose last win against the Catalan club was in 2021.

“They deserved the victory because they were more efficient,” Simeone said. “We had our chances but didn’t take advantage of them.”

Atletico, the 2021 champions, threatened first with a shot by Antoine Griezmann that struck the crossbar three minutes into the match but it was the nearest they came.

Elsewhere, Valencia took a step forward in their fight against relegation with a 2-0 win at last-place Elche.

The result ended Valencia’s 10-match winless streak in away matches in the league, having lost eight in a row on the road.

Valencia stayed in 18th with the same points as 17th-place Almeria, the first team above the relegation zone, but Elche are 17 points from safety.