Yes there have been great improvements in this Barca team for some time now and also a great deal of consistency in the way they have been playing and also grabbing points both at home and on the road which has also made them formidable as a team. But on the side athletico Madrid, I still can't stop wondering how they managed to oust inter Milan from the UCL with the kind of performance they put out there yesterday, against inter Milan they came all out, they took control, they show intensity as well as character until they got themselves back into the game but against Barcelona they played like a youth team, they couldn't even get a consolation goal, in my opinion i think this is one of their worst performance this season.
Barcelona's improving performance cannot be separated from Xavi Hernandez who was able to make a new breakthrough after previously getting unsatisfactory results. Gundogan was an important player in that match so they managed to beat Atletico Madrid with a big score. In that match, Xavi Hernandez was unable to lead the team after receiving a red card, but they managed to emerge victorious even though the coach was unable to give full instructions.
Atletico Madrid played well when they got rid of Inter Milan in the Champions League and when they faced Barcelona they didn't play as well as yesterday. I saw that Atletico Madrid lost their strategy when playing and they were unable to take advantage of the several opportunities they got when they had opportunities to score goals. Meanwhile, Barcelona did not waste opportunities when they had opportunities and Gundogan became a differentiator in the midfield so he was able to dominate the match.