The opening goal of Ousmane Dembele was adequate to win a victory in an exciting encounter between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona, which saw the Catalan giants move three points clear of Real Madrid, who lost 1-2 to Villarreal.

Atletico Madrid, as usual, sat deep and prepared for a counter-attack, while Barcelona stayed on the front foot, with several chances squandered. But Pedri's burst of speed found Gavi, who lay it off for Dembele to send the ball into the bottom corner as Barcelona headed into the interval leading.

Atletico Madrid came close to netting twice when Griezmann's attempt was deflected over by Ter Stegen and then blocked by Ronald Araujo.

Both teams ended with 10 men after Stefan Savic and Ferran Torres have been seen wrestling and were given straight red cards.

Both players battled off the ball and were dismissed during the injury time.

One can watch the video of incident here

Barcelona were fortunate to win considering Atletico Madrid didn't waste many opportunities and kept stress on the visitors, who made numerous misplaced passes.

And Xavi's team took full advantage of Real Madrid's defeat, moving to the top of the table with three points.

Simeone is in command of his 418th game as manager of a single team in Spain's top division.

Barcelona would have missed Lewandowski most in this match as they would have cruised past with a comfortable victory, when Pedri lofted effort was denied by Molina and Dembele lacked the clinical edge in the final third.

Atletico appeared more proactive in the second half with their strong pressing, but they were fortuitous to not win a point as Araujo's goal-line stop in the 94th minute handed Barcelona a merited three points.

Earlier, Torres' goal was called offside, and he expressed his displeasure when he was embroiled in a raucous with Stefan Savic.