Atletico Madrid 4 Barcelona 2: Atletico prove too sharp for Ronaldinho's scissors

(GETTY IMAGES)

The Barcelona revival that has silenced talk of a managerial change at the end of the season came to a crashing halt with this embarassment at the hands of Atletico Madrid.

To make Frank Rijkaard's weekend even worse, a Robinho-inspired Real Madrid came from a goal down to beat Recreativo Huelva 3-2 and extend their lead at the top of La Liga to five points.

The usually unflustered Rijkaard pulled no punches after his side, who took the lead through a spectacular overhead kick from Ronaldinho, fell apart. "We lost because at the start of the game everything seemed very easy but when you are ahead you have to take advantage of that," said the Dutchman. "It's not just about controlling the game, you have to play to hurt the opposition."

"We had no aggression and were without penetration. We created very few chances on goal despite the fact that we completely controlled the game. Then when they scored their first two goals we became very disorganised. The strikers were in midfield and I don't know what they were doing there because that was not the plan, that is not what we want at Barcelona."

Ronaldinho's stunning scissor-kick from a Xavi Hernandez cross gave Barcelona the lead but then Atletico's Sergio Aguero made them pay by scoring two goals and creating two.

The 19-year-old Argentine netted the first with a deflected shot and then made the second with a pass for Maxi Rodriguez. He won a second-half penalty which Diego Forlan converted and then rounded off with a fine individual goal before Samuel Eto'o scored a late consolation.

Eidur Gudjohnsen said the result would not affect Barcelona in tomorrow night's Champions League second leg at home to Celtic, whom they lead 3-2, and that speculation linking Rijkaard with Chelsea was not on the players' minds.

He said: "We are used to the fact that people are always talking about the future of our coach. But he has made it very clear that he wants to continue at Barcelona and that is good enough for us. We accept that."

Gudjohnsen added: "At Camp Nou I think it is going to be very very difficult for Celtic. It's a very big pitch and we are playing very well at home."

Real Madrid's victory came courtesy of a double from Robinho, a substitute. He scored with his first shot and then lobbed Stefano Sorretino for a second goal. Raul had earlier cancelled out Recreativo's opener, looking offside when he headed home.

The game was marred by three red cards, including one for the Real defender Sergio Ramos. Real's coach, Bernd Schuster, left a post-match press conference after refusing to answer questions about the referee.