Lionel Messi celebrated the birth of his second son by coming off the bench to score the winner as Barcelona came from behind to claim a vital 2-1 win away at Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Saturday.
Messi started on the sidelines having missed training on Friday to attend the birth, a day after returning from Argentina international duty.
However, he was still to make the decisive contribution as he nonchalantly flicked home the winner 11 minutes from time after Neymar had cancelled out Fernando Torres’s opener.
Even without Messi, Barcelona was the dominant side early on at the Calderon with Ivan Rakitic forcing Jan Oblak into the first serious save of the game with a fierce drive from a narrow angle.
Barca suffered a blow when Thomas Vermaelen was forced off with a calf injury.
Yet, Luis Suarez should still have given it a half time lead when he turned Rafinha’s flick onto the crossbar from point blank range.
Atletico struck first six minutes after the break when Torres latched onto Tiago’s through ball and his shot found the net via the far post.
However, the lead lasted barely three minutes as in the absence of Messi, Neymar was given the chance to strike a free kick from the edge of the area and arrowed the ball into Oblak’s top right hand corner.
Dybala saves Juve’s blushes Meanwhile, Paulo Dybala struck a late penalty to save Juventus’s blushes in a 1-1 draw with Chievo in the Serie A, although it remains six points behind title rival Roma ahead of its Champions League opener against Manchester City.
Having already suffered its worst ever start to a Serie A season following defeats to Udinese and Roma, Juventus welcomed Chievo to Turin determined to take all three points, albeit with one eye on Tuesday’s fixture.
Coach Massimiliano Allegri left Juan Cuadrado, Mario Mandzukic and Paul Pogba on the bench and handed full debuts to former Inter Milan midfielder Hernanes as well as Brazilian defender Alex Sandro.
The rested trio’s presence, however, was eventually required as Juve fought back after conceding a fifth-minute opener when Perparim Hetemaj fired low past Gianluigi Buffon from outside the area.
The results:
La Liga: On Sunday: Granada 1 (Fran Rico 73) lost to Villarreal 3 (Trigueros 48, Bakambu 51, Samu Garcia 90+1).
On Saturday: Sporting Gijon 0 lost to Valencia 1 (Alcacer 90); Atletico Madrid 1 (Torres 51) lost to Barcelona 2 (Neymar 54, Messi 76); Real Betis 1 (Ruben Castro 41) bt Real Sociedad 0.
Serie A: On Sunday: Verona 2 (Toni 49-pen, Gomez 72) drew with Torino 2 (Baselli 66, Acquah 73).
On Saturday: Juventus 1 (Dybala 83-pen) drew with Chievo 1 (Hetemaj 5).
Bundesliga: On Sunday: Hoffenheim 1 (Vargas 49) lost to Werder Bremen 3 (Junuzovic 45, 90+3, Ujah 90+2); Schalke 2 (Matip 37, Huntelaar 61) bt Mainz 1 (Malli 42).
