La Liga 18-19: Barcelona 2-0 Atletico Madrid - 5 taking points 

Barcelona posted a 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou in La Liga ,after goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi condemned Simeone's men to their fifth league defeat of the season.

The match lived up to its billing as a potential title decider, with both teams giving their all in a bid to get the much needed victory.

Atletico Madrid came into the match hoping to get a first league victory over Barca in seven years, to boost their fledgling hopes in the league, but the defeat means that they have no hope of winning any other trophy this season.

For their part, the Catalans can turn their attention to the Champions League where they face off against Manchester United as they continue their quest for a third treble.

The win pushed the Blaugranas 11 points clear atop the standings on the La Liga table and with just seven matches left, they are all but certain to retain the title.

In this piece, we shall be taking a look at five talking points from the enthralling fixture.

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#5 Diego Costa's moment of madness

Diego Costa received a red card in the match

Diego Costa has long built a reputation of being a hothead, who makes as much negative headlines as he does for positive displays on the field.

The 30-year-old has a rap-sheet that encompasses all misdemeanours from public clashes with opponents to in-house fighting with teammates and coaches and as such, Costa represents something of an enigma with a short fuse with whom you can't be sure of what to expect.

Every time the Spanish international steps out on the field, there is always the tendency of him flaring up at opponents, and this poor trait came to the fore in the clash against Barcelona.

For the first 27 minutes of the fixture, Atleti gave as good as they got, pushing Barcelona all the way and showing their intent in claiming all three points. That was until a moment of madness by Diego Costa threatened to undo all their work.

A tackle by Sergi Roberto on Costa was waved away by the referee, and in shocking scenes, the former Chelsea man rose in absolute fury to challenge the referee, leading to the issuance of a straight red card which meant that the Rojiblancos had to play for the last hour of the match a man down.

Atletico Madrid took a massive gamble in bringing Diego Costa back to Spain after he fell out with Antonio Conte at Chelsea, and so far, this is a risk which has not paid off. With just two goals scored all season, Simeone would need his striker to start doing the duty which he was signed for rather than grabbing negative headlines.

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#4 Atletico Madrid's compactness

Atletico remained compact despite the red card

Atletico Madrid have unarguably been one of Europe's most compact sides over the last few years, earning a reputation of being extremely difficult to break down ever since Diego Simeone took over the managerial reigns.

This compactness came to the fore in the matchup against Barcelona, as they found themselves one man down with more than an hour to go in the match.

Despite having a personnel deficit, Atletico deserve immense credit for holding their own against their more illustrious hosts, and going toe-to-toe with the defending La Liga champions.

Even though Barcelona had the presence of incredible forwards like Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in addition to the advantage of an extra man, they absolutely found it difficult to break down their visitors, and for a long time, it felt like Barcelona would fail to get the three points they craved.

Atletico's resilience was finally broken in the 85th minute, with the final 2-0 scoreline not doing their performance enough justice. Even though their La Liga hopes might have been extinguished, that takes nothing away from the exquisite performance put up by Atletico Madrid.

#3 Luis Suarez shows his class

Suarez opened the scoring with an exquisite goal

Given his performance levels over the last decade, it is no surprise to find out that many fans and pundits alike consider Luis Suarez to be the premier center-forward in the world, and the 31-year-old has the stats to back this claim up.

However, the Uruguayan international has faced criticisms of late, with his laborious style of play and poor finishing, drawing consternation among Barcelona fans, while his recent poor record in the Champions League does little to help his cause.

In the match against Atleti, Luis Suarez seemed to be laying credence to those who believe he is past his prime, as his poor touches in the final third and erratic finishing on two occasions, seemed to suggest that this would be another poor night for the former Liverpool man.

However, on 85 minutes, Suarez picked up the ball some 25 yards from Jan Oblak's goal and unleashed an unstoppable screamer into the bottom corner of the otherwise unbeatable Oblak's net.

The goal was reminiscent of prime Luis Suarez and as the saying goes 'form is temporary, but class is permanent', and on the night, the Barcelona number 9 shows that he still has what it takes to be an elite striker.

#2 Super Jan brings his A-game

Jan blakk was unbeatable for most of the match

For all the praise given to Atletico Madrid for their resoluteness against Barcelona, despite being a man down, much more encomium should be showered on the man between the sticks for them.

Jan Oblak has been one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the world over the last few years, but had not been getting the recognition he deserved.

Thankfully, all that is beginning to change, as the Slovenian international keeps churning out amazing performances on a regular basis which are difficult to ignore.

Against Barcelona, the 26-year-old brought his A-game, putting in arguably the best goalkeeping performance seen all season long in La Liga.

He started off in the first half by diving low to his right to keep out a Phillipe Coutinho strike after the Brazilian had wriggled his way into a one-on-one situation and seemed destined to score.

He however saved his best for the second half, thwarting Lionel Messi on no less than four occasions while also putting up a number of world-class saves including two reflex saves to keep out Lionel Messi and Malcom in quick succession.

Oblak made no less than nine saves on the night and for much of the contest, he seemed unbeatable. With his displays, it was aways going to take something special to get past him, and that came in the form of an unstoppable belter by Luis Suarez.

#1 Lionel Messi continues to impress

FC Barcelona v Club Atletico de Madrid - La Liga

Despite turning 32 in a couple of months, Lionel Messi continues to wow and perform at an unbelievable level.

The Argentine icon is the leading goalscorer in the Champions League, La Liga as well as leading the way in terms of assists in Europe, and with the monstrous form he is in, it was expected that he would be the spearhead if Barcelona were to get anything from the clash.

As it happened, Barcelona's record goalscorer did not disappoint, as he sent his statement of intent early in the match, playing in Jordi Alba through with a delightfully weighted trademark lob which the left-back could only smash against the post.

Seeing Atletico's incredible resilience, Lionel Messi took matters into his own hands, dropping deep to influence proceedings and could have grabbed a couple of assists but for erratic finishing from his teammates.

The five time Ballon d'Or winner was a constant menace to the Atleti backline, wriggling his way around but was denied by some inspired goalkeeping by Jan Oblak.

Messi was however not to be denied, as he showed some nimble footwork to wrong foot Oblak and take him to 33 goals in the league and 43 in all competitions.

With this form, Messi it is going to take something special to stop him and you can be sure that this would be at the forefront of Champions League opponents Manchester United, whose manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was in the stands.