Barcelona haven’t lost since getting shocked by Real Betis 4-3 at Estadio Camp Nou on November 11 tallying four draws and 13 victories



Their undefeated streak came minutes from ending on Tuesday when they entered stoppage time down 4-2 to Villareal at Estadio de la Ceramica Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez found the back of the net in the 90th and 94th minutes respectively for a draw

“The spirit which we showed to never give up demonstrates how much we want to lift this league title” Suarez said according to ESPN

“Looking at how the first half was going I think we put in a great performance we deserved to be winning although we know they had chances to score too”

Barcelona stars Messi and Ivan Rakitic both entered the game as reserves and defender Gerard Pique didn’t start and remained on the sideline

“It was a crazy game there were times when it seemed either of the two teams could win without any problems It shows how strong this league is” Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde said per ESPN “You cannot go into any match thinking that you’re going to win It was important not to lose”

With their draw and Atletico’s 2-0 victory over Girona on the same day the Blaugrana now possess an eight-point lead over the second-place Colchoneros for La Liga’s top spot after 30 games

“We have a lovely points margin but even though we didn’t lose today we know we have to improve” Suarez said per ESPN

“This game shows you that you end up paying dearly for any errors and we need to make some corrections”

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde told the Associated Press he stressed improving the team’s defense in the days between the draw and their matchup with Atletico

“The other day we didn’t play well” Valverde said “We were disorganized in attack and that made us suffer in defense Any adversary who watched the match saw a way to attack us by looking to play long balls into space behind our lines”

Atletico Shuts Out Girona
Slovenian keeper Jan Oblak made four saves for a clean sheet in Atletico’s victory over Girona Uruguayan central defender Diego Godin opened the scoring in the 76th minute before French international forward Antoine Griezmann added an insurance goal in the 94th

“We are happy with the victory against a difficult rival” Godin said after the win according to Tribal Football

“We had to get the win We knew it would be complicated

“I’m obviously happy to have helped it served to open the scoring”