Barcelona secured a 4-2 victory over Atletico Madrid on Sunday to leapfrog Diego Simeone’s side into the fourth and final Champions League spot.
The six-goal thriller ended with a comeback victory for Xavi Hernandez’s men who showed no mercy to their visitors.
Yannick Carrasco fired Simeone’s men in front after just eight minutes with an assist from former Barca striker, Luis Suarez.
But the lead lasted for only two minutes when right-back Dani Alvez teed up left-back Jordi Alba for a left-footed screamer to draw Barca level at 1-1, sending Camp Nou into a frenzy.
Although the visitors protested a supposed foul by Adama Traore in the build-up to the goal, the referee rejected their plea and the goal stood.
Xavi Hernandez’s side took the lead for the first time in the 21st minute when Gavi headed in a Traore cross, beating Jan Oblak to make it 2-1.
Barca exerted their dominance further two minutes before the break when Ronald Araújo made it 3-1.
The hosts extended their lead to 4-1 after just four minutes into the second half as Dani Alves fired in the fourth from close range.
Carrasco attempted to reduce the deficit a few minutes to the hour mark but Andre Ter Stergen pushed his freekick out for a corner.
Atletico succeded from the resulting corner when Suarez scored against his former side to make it 4-2 in the 58th minute.
Barcelona were reduced to 10 men when Alves was shown a red card for a clumsy challenge on Carrasco.
Alves appeared to have caught him with a high foot down the calf. The referee went for the straight red card after reviewing the incident through the pitchside monitor.
Simeone’s men failed to capitalise on the numerical advantage and the game ended 4-2 in favour of Barcelona pipped Atletico into fourth place on the log.
The victory sees Barca’s unbeaten run over Atletico at Camp Nou extend to 16 league games.
