Messi scored the 700th goal, Barcelona 2-2 by Atletico

BARCELONA, Spain – Lionel Messi scored his 700th career goal for club and country before Atletico Madrid returned on Tuesday to a 2-2 draw in the Spanish league and dealt a serious blow to Barcelona’s title hopes.

Barcelona’s third draw in four rounds took second place, one point behind leaders Real Madrid. Madrid welcomes Getafe on Thursday with the chance to open four points ahead with five more games.

Barcelona were two points ahead of Madrid when the league was stopped in March due to the Coronavirus outbreak.

While Madrid has won five out of five since resuming after a three-month hiatus, Barcelona has only won three out of six. The pressure on coach Quique Setién, who took over the team in the middle of the season with the task of reviving his aggressive spirit, is increasing.

“It’s a shame because we keep losing points and moving further away from the title,” said Setien. “But we have to keep fighting.”

Barcelona scored in the 11th minute for the first time when Atlético striker Diego Costa accidentally drove a corner of Messi into his own net.

Costa’s night got worse shortly after when Marc-Andre ter Stegen blocked his penalty. However, Atlético had to repeat the penalty when a video check found that the Barcelona goalkeeper had strayed too early.

Saúl Ñíguez took the place of Costa on the second try and moved to equalize in the 19th.

Messi restored the hosts’ lead to 56th by coolly scoring a Panenka-style penalty and gently shooting past goalkeeper Jan Oblak. The goal was Messi’s 630th club goal at 70 for his Argentina. It was also his leading 22nd goal of the season in the league.

Atlético reacted again with the speed of striker Yannick Carrasco, who was stumbled by Nelson Semedo and sent Saúl back to the point. Ter Stegen got a hand on his penalty, but not enough to keep him outside.

Diego Simeones Atlético have been unbeaten in six games since the competition resumed. It remained in third place, 12 points behind Madrid.

Simeone left striker João Félix on the bench until the second half in favor of the formidable midfielder Marcos Llorente, who successfully supported the attack.

Llorente led the attack early, but Carrasco, with his speed on the left, proved to be the visitors’ greatest weapon. The Belgian striker twice stormed into the penalty area after a counterattack and was knocked out by late duels from Arturo Vidal and Semedo.

“Carrasco came back from the break in better shape and is now playing at their best level again,” said Simeone of his striker, who is in his second stint at the club.

Setién decided to leave Messi and Luis Suárez alone and add an additional midfielder in youngster Riqui Puig to keep strikers Antoine Griezmann and Ansu Fati on the bench. Puig had one of his best performances for Barcelona and showed his passing and ball control skills when he got on well with Messi and his other teammates.

Barcelona no longer blows out rivals like it used to, but its main problem is the failure to protect the leads. Celta Vigo also made two progress on Saturday, only to take a 2-2 draw twice.

“All the remaining games are very important and any points we lose affect our chances,” said 20-year-old Puig after his second consecutive start. “The same thing happened the other day, they were able to fight back in games we won thanks to our stupid mistake or poor concentration.”

Messi helped put Barcelona in the lead when he hit a corner deep and hard on the nearby post where Costa tried to clear her but instead hit her on the inside of his leg. The ball bounced off the lawn and gave Oblak no chance.

In front of his penalty, Messi almost curled up with a shot from the right that was only a few centimeters from the bend in the far corner of the goal.

Barcelona’s best chance to pick the winner came from Vidal, who fired a shot from the post 20 minutes before the end.

SEVILLA WINS

Oliver Torres had a double when Sevilla finished 3-0 at relegated Leganés to strengthen his influence on fourth and last place in the Champions League.

REKINDLED HOPE

Mallorca’s 5-1 loss to Celta Vigo raised hopes of avoiding relegation.

Mallorca’s biggest win of the season came in 18th place, five points behind Celta, who is 17th in security.

Spanish league games are played without fans due to the health regulations for COVID-19, and the teams play every three nights to end the competition by July 19.

___

More AP soccer https://apnews.com/Soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports