Dani Alves: Barcelona star given red card for poor challenge vs Atletico Madrid | OneFootball

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid played out a cracker on Sunday afternoon.

Barca went into the game at Camp Nou knowing a win would see them leapfrog their rivals into fourth.

They got off to a poor start, with Yannick Carrasco giving the away side the lead after eight minutes.

But Barca came roaring back and soon took the lead themselves.

Goals from Jordi Alba, Gavi and Ronald Araujo gave Barca a two-goal advantage at half-time.

Barca continued their dominance after the break as Dani Alves extended their lead to three goals four minutes into the second half.

Luis Suarez cut the gap to two goals and then Barca were reduced to 10 men when Alves received his marching orders.

The veteran defender put in a nasty challenge on Carrasco as he scraped his studs down the back of the Belgian’s calf.

VAR looked at the incident and decided to give Alves a straight red card.

Alves and his teammates tried to despite the red card but to no avail.

It was an eventful day for Alves, who got on the scoresheet, bagged an assist and was also given a red card.

It made for a nervy final 20 minutes for Barca but they held on to win 4-2 and secure a priceless three points.

Barcelona have now moved up to fourth in La Liga with 38 points picked up from their 22 games. They are 12 points behind fierce rivals and league leaders, Real Madrid.

It’ll be extremely tough but Xavi will feel his Barcelona side have what it takes to reel in Carlo Ancelotti’s side.

Atletico, meanwhile, appear to be in real trouble.

They conceded four goals for the first time in a La Liga game since December 2012, also against Barcelona.

They are now in fifth and need to turn their form around and fast.

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