Pedri highlights why Barcelona lost out in Atletico Madrid battle

Barcelona will use the mid-season break to regroup after losing their lead on the La Liga title.

La Blaugrana have now won just one of their last seven league games as they ended 2024 with a 2-1 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid.

A first home defeat to Los Rojiblancos since 2006 changes the face of the title race as they will now top the table in early 2025.

Barcelona have struggled to carry their impressive UEFA Champions League form into domestic affairs and a response is needed in January.

Pedri opened the scoring that evening, but Barcelona failed to deal with the counter-attack threat late on as Alexander Sorloth scored the winner in the 96th minute.

The Spain international was frustrated at full-time and admitted he was not ruthless in front of goal.

“It is a heavy defeat. We had chances to close the game and if you don't close it, this happens,” Marca said.

“We had a lot of clear opportunities. Robert, Raphinha, one more for me – football is complicated if you don't score goals.

“We have to be harder to beat at home. We have to improve a lot and use the break to recover mentally and physically.”

Barcelona face a busy start to 2025, with a Copa del Rey trip to Barbastro on January 4, before immediately heading to Saudi Arabia for the Spanish Super Cup.

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