Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona: Winners and Losers from La Liga

Barcelona clinched the Primera Division title with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Sunday.

In a reversal of last season's title-decider—where Atletico won the league crown at the Nou Camp—Luis Enrique's side completed the first part of a possible treble, thanks to Lionel Messi's smart second-half finish, the Argentine proving the difference (as he often has all season) between two combative outfits.

Diego Simeone's side had a couple of late chances to throw a spanner in the works, but overall, Barca were good value—rendering Real Madrid's emphatic victory over Espanyol moot, as the final whistle ushered in some joyous celebrations.

Click on for some winners and losers from the game.

Winner: Lionel Messi

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It was somewhat fitting that the goal that ultimately clinched the title came from Barcelona's most important player, as Lionel Messi found that one moment of magic was required to penetrate a characteristically obdurate Atletico defence.

Fans of sweeping judgements will have delighted in the fact that, on a day when Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick (putting himself on the verge of the Pichichi trophy for top league scorer), it was one solitary strike from Messi that ensured his side would actually win the trophy being fought over.

It may be simplistic to suggest that Messi's more inclusive brand of genius lifts Barca to greater heights than Ronaldo's singular pursuit of landmarks does for Real, but that doesn't mean that such a suggestion is entirely without merit.

Barcelona could have lost on Sunday and still clinched the title next weekend, but Messi's quality ensured they did not need to burden themselves with that additional stress. His winning goal was brilliant in its execution, the Argentine running onto a one-two with Pedro before taking a couple of deft touches and sweeping a low shot beyond Jan Oblak and inside the far post.

“Messi scores a lot of goals, but the whole team has shone. They played a very serious game,” Barca president Josep Bartomeu, said, per AS (via Football Espana). “He has always been the best player in the world. As [former Real director] Jorge Valdano said, the second-best in the world is an injured Messi."

Messi's all-round contribution was of its usual high standard, although the absence of Luis Suarez undoubtedly blunted Barcelona's threat somewhat. Nevertheless, they were able to pick apart Atletico's defence eventually, and now they have some time to celebrate before focusing on the two other trophies they can yet win this season.

Loser: Diego Godin

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It's difficult to pick any "losers" from this game, an evenly fought contest where Atletico's resilience was ultimately only undermined by the sheer brilliance of the world's best player. But the emotion of the occasion seemed to be on the verge of getting the better of Diego Godin at times, with the Uruguayan not enjoying his best afternoon for Los Colchoneros.

Godin missed a brilliant chance to grab Atletico something from the game, sending a second-half header straight at Claudio Bravo, when usually he would bury such close-range chances without a second's thought. Perhaps the frustration of that miss played into some of his actions later on, as the red mist threatened to descend after an unnecessary bit of taunting from Neymar in the closing moments of the game.

Godin's rage threatened to get the better of him as he tried to make his point to the Brazilian, an unseemly confrontation perhaps only avoided by Messi's (brave) decision to step in the middle of the whole situation. Perhaps the frustration of finally giving up the league title also played a part, as the book was finally closed on a remarkable triumph of which Godin was a huge element.

Overall, a game Godin—along with most of his teammates—will quickly wish to forget.

Winner: Luis Enrique

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Luis Enrique must scarcely believe how things have changed. At the start of the year, his Barcelona reign appeared to be on the verge of ruination, as he left Messi on the bench for the first match of 2015—a move that invoked the Argentine's ire and led him to skip training the next day.

Bedlam ensued, and it looked like the manager would never recover from that show of player power. Yet, less than five months later, the first-year Barca manager has clinched his first title—and with two cup finals to come, he could yet emulate Pep Guardiola (a manager he beat scarcely a week ago) and win the treble in his first season at the club.

Speculation lingers that, even if that treble is secured, Enrique could yet leave at the end of the season. Even if he does choose to do so—for whatever reason—he will depart a success, thanks to a triumph on Sunday that brilliantly capped off the remarkable turnaround of 2015.

As Sky Sports' Adam Bate noted ahead of kick-off, Enrique has overseen one of the most unstoppable title charges in recent memory:

"

Barcelona's response to the challenge laid down by Atletico has been relentless. "The goal is to keep winning matches," said Luis Enrique in January and even into May the Barca boss is still repeating that mantra. His players are listening too. With 90 points to their name, they've already hit Atletico's tally from last season with two games to spare. In fact, Barcelona's brilliance has left so little room for manoeuvre that even if Atletico had won all 18 of their games since losing at the Nou Camp in January, they'd still [have needed] to avoid defeat on Sunday if they wanted to be top of the table.

"

Winners: The 2 Goalkeepers

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Both goalkeepers impressed with some of their saves on Sunday, even if only one of them ultimately walked away with a clean sheet to show for his efforts.

Claudio Bravo was the busier of the two goalkeepers at the start and end of the match, the Chilean making one particularly spectacular diving stop (pictured) to deny Jose Gimenez in the early stages. His opposite number, Jan Oblak, had his moments as well, however—producing a number of fine stops to deny the likes of Messi and Dani Alves, before the former would eventually make his quality tell to decide the contest.

Nevertheless, this was a good day for the goalkeepers—underlining why Oblak has supplanted Miguel Angel Moya as the club's No. 1 over the course of the season and why Bravo has remained Enrique's preferred league goalkeeper, despite the Champions League form of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.