Barcelona miss out on Champions League top spot with Atalanta claiming draw

The Blaugrana welcomed Atalanta in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís company with the opportunity to take first place in the competition phase, although that can mean very little in the large diagram of things with a last 16 place, anyway.

In the meantime, the Italians would need a victory to join their hosts when claiming a top eight place.

The lack of tension that went into the game was only early, because neither teams insisted on an early goal.

The best chances of Atalanta, but the efforts of Sead Kolasinac and Davide Zappacosta did not succeed in challenging Wojciech Szczęsny in the goal of Barca.

Mateo Retegui was then trying to open the score, because the visitors finally started to exert the pressure on the Barca defense.

The Italian international was just found in the box and tried to shoot in the bottom of the goal, but Szczęsy managed to push the ball outside for a corner.

Just as it seemed as if the game would be aimless on the break, the ball was in the back of a Zappacosta effort, but VAR intervened to keep the game level because of a offside in the structure.

Despite the lack of much attacking intention before the interval, it was the hosts who opened the score within the opening moments in the second half. Raphinha's low pass In the middle of the box, Lamine Yamal gave the easy task to throw the ball in the bottom corner.

Yamal tried to double the pipe shortly thereafter with an opportunity from outside the box, but an Atalanta defender managed to block it.

Atalanta did not let that early goal discourage them, because they soon came back to a flat foot when Edererson tried his luck remotely, with the daring effort of the midfielder of the left pole.

As soon as they scored, they were behind, while Ronald Arajo went home a Raphinha corner to restore the hosts' lead.

That was not the last action of the game, because Marten de Roon Mario Pasalićc found in the box and the Croatian hit a first effort to restore parity.

The road side could not find the vital goal to eventually get all three points, because Barcelona was satisfied with the second place in the UCL last 16.

Atalanta, on the other hand, missed the chance to claim a top-eight place and must now go through the knockout round.