“Barça’s entire defense was fooled”: Lee Kang-in serves up the opener with a stunning outside-of-the-foot pass, but Atlético are left in tears after a comeback defeat

[Financial News] Lee Kang-in’s (25) dazzling outside-of-the-foot pass that set up the opener ripped open Barcelona’s defense. But his club, Atlético Madrid (AT Madrid), failed to hold onto the lead and suffered a painful comeback defeat at home.
AT Madrid fell 1-2 at home to Barcelona on the 9th (Korea time) at Riyadh Air Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain, in the 12th round of the 2026-27 Spanish Primera División season, conceding a brace to Fermin López.
Lee started up front alongside Julián Álvarez as one of the two forwards in a 4-4-2 formation and played for 60 minutes, until the 15th minute of the second half.


AT Madrid opened the scoring, with Lee at the heart of the move. In the 10th minute of the first half, Lee collected the ball on the right side of the opposition’s half and played a deft switch-of-play pass with the outside of his left foot toward Álvarez, who was making a run into space on the far side. The perfectly weighted pass caught Barcelona off guard and, after going through Álvarez, set up Giuliano Simeone’s opener. It was a moment when Lee’s exceptional vision and kicking ability shone. In the 24th minute of the first half, he tried a sharp left-footed shot from the right side of the penalty area, but it went straight at the goalkeeper, leaving him to rue the missed chance.
But AT Madrid’s lead did not last long. In the 45th minute of the first half, after Barcelona’s Pedri unsettled the defense, López turned the loose ball into a first-time equalizer.


With the score level, coach Diego Simeone made a change in the 15th minute of the second half, taking Lee off and bringing on Alexander Sørloth. But it was Barcelona who scored the go-ahead goal. In the 21st minute of the second half, López received a pass from Lamine Yamal and found the net again, turning the game around.
The defeat brought AT Madrid’s impressive seven-game winning streak to an end. Stuck on 28 points (nine wins, one draw and two losses), AT Madrid fell to third in the league, behind Barcelona (33 points) and Real Madrid (30 points). It was their second consecutive defeat in official competition, following their loss to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League on the 4th.
Although the team lost, Lee has established himself as a key player, appearing in 14 of the team’s 15 official matches this season. He has played in 12 La Liga matches, starting 10, and has recorded two goals and one assist.


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