It’s a crucial win for Barcelona on Saturday after Real Madrid lost to Real Mallorca, allowing them to extend their lead at the top of Spain’s La Liga. Veteran striker Robert Lewandowski scored an 87th-minute winner for Barcelona against 10-man Atletico Madrid, sending his side seven points clear. The bad-tempered match, which produced eight yellow cards and a red, saw Barca coming from behind after Giuliano Simeone, the son of Atletico boss Diego Simeone, scored for his father’s side in the 39th minute before England forward Marcus Rashford restored parity. Then Gonzalez was shown a straight red in added time of the first half for denying Lamine Yamal a goalscoring opportunity. The game became a battle of attrition, with Barcelona appearing to be heading for a frustrating draw against opponents who played the whole of the second half with 10 men after Rashford’s goal. This was the fourth meeting, coming on the heels of two-legged ties in which Atletico defeated Barca in the Copa del Rey semi-final, with another two fixtures to follow inside the next two weeks in the Champions League quarter-finals. The pulsating match saw Barca’s Gerard Martin shown a red card for an ugly challenge on Thiago Almada, but the decision was overturned, much to Atletico’s anger. With time running out, the visitors piled forward in search of a winner. Musso produced a fine save to deny former Manchester City forward Ferran Torres before Lewandowski, 37, scored the winner in the 87th minute. With eight games to go, Barcelona have 76 points while nearest rivals Real Madrid have 69. The top two sides are due to meet on 10 May in Barcelona. Earlier, Real Madrid suffered a major blow to their La Liga title hopes as Vedat Muriqi’s late winner consigned them to defeat at Mallorca. Hosts Mallorca went ahead four minutes before halftime when Manu Morlanes met a cross from the right delivered by Pablo Maffeo, took a touch to compose himself, and slotted into the bottom right corner. Real thought they had salvaged a point in the 88th minute when Eder Militao headed superbly from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s corner. However, Muriqi had other ideas and struck his 19th league goal of the season in the first minute of stoppage time to give the hosts a superb win.
