Dembele turns up late again
Atletico Madrid came within a whisker of their first league win over Barcelona in eight years on Saturday only for Ousmane Dembele to dash their hopes with a dramatic equaliser in injury-time.
Diego Costa looked to have decided the contest at the Wanda Metropolitano when he headed in his first La Liga goal since February with 13 minutes left.
Atletico would have gone top of the table but instead, Barca produced another fightback as Dembele, on as a substitute, slid home a cool finish in the 90th minute to earn a 1-1 draw.
Diego Simeone was asked after the match what his team had lacked. "Four minutes," he said, grinning.
Dembele, who has been under constant scrutiny for turning up to training sessions late, found redemption with a clinical strike when it mattered most.
For all the noise surrounding him off the pitch, his goals have now given Barcelona seven points this season, more than any other player in La Liga.
“He's a great player and has a lot of talents, among them goals," Valverde, who dropped Dembele for the defeat to Real Betis before the international break, said. "The media talk about him far too much. The last game he wasn't called up, it's true. He's a player that we have to help so that things work for him and he can help us as a team. We expect a lot of him because he is a great talent."
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