Atletico Madrid pulled off its first La Liga win over Barcelona in more than a decade as Yannick Carrasco capitalised on a blunder from Barca keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen to secure a 1-0 victory at Wanda Metropolitano on Saturday.
Belgian winger Carrasco broke the deadlock at the end of the first half, pulling off a backheel to knock the ball through the legs of Ter Stegen, after the German goalkeeper had charged out of his area.
Lionel Messi had won the fixture last season with a late solo goal but the Barca captain had a match to forget this time, creating very little danger and appearing hesitant in front of goal.
Former Atletico forward Antoine Griezmann missed the target in each half while defender Clement Lenglet sent his header straight at Jan Oblak.
The win moved Atletico up to second in the standings, level on 20 points with leader Real Sociedad, while Barca is down in 10th place with 11 points after a third defeat in eight league games under Ronald Koeman.
“A team like Barca cannot afford to concede a goal like that,” said the Dutchman.
“It was our fault, it's not good and we can't let something like that happen again.”
The Catalans' pain was compounded by the sight of defender Gerard Pique limping off the pitch after a challenge from Angel Correa.
Atletico, which was missing the likes of Luis Suarez , Hector Herrera and Lucas Torreira, almost took an early lead when Marcos Llorente's shot crashed off the bar, while it took a brilliant save from Ter Stegen to keep out a vicious strike from Saul Niguez.
While Barca had its chances to level, Atletico comfortably saw out the victory and coach Diego Simeone punched the air when the whistle came to signal his first league victory over Barca since he took charge of Atletico in 2011.
“It was our turn to win today but it won't change our objectives,” said the coach.
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