Barcelona and Atletico draw to give Real title advantage

Ousmane Dembélé misses a late chance as the two sides draw a blank in Catalunya

Leo Messi during Barcelona and Atletico Madrid’s draw at Camp Nou in the Catalan capital. Photograph: Enric Fontcuberta/EPA
Leo Messi during Barcelona and Atletico Madrid’s draw at Camp Nou in the Catalan capital. Photograph: Enric Fontcuberta/EPA

Barcelona 0 Atletico Madrid 0

The La Liga title race was blown wide open after Barcelona and Atletico Madrid played out a 0-0 draw at Camp Nou on Saturday.

The stalemate means that should third-placed Real Madrid beat fourth-placed Sevilla on Sunday, they will move top of the table - level on 77 points with Atletico - but ahead given their superior head-to-head record with just three games to play. Barcelona moved up to second place on Saturday with 75 points.

Despite having far less of the ball, the visitors enjoyed the better of the first half, with Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen making a number of stops to keep his side level.

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Atletico defender Felipe missed arguably the most gilt-edged opportunity of the game just before the break, firing over from close range after a well-worked corner.

Substitute Ronald Araujo saw a header ruled out for offside for Barcelona after the break as the Catalans improved. Ousmane Dembélé then came on and headed over a great chance following some wonderful build up play conducted by Lionel Messi.

However, ultimately neither side was able to find a way through and the title race looks set to go the distance.