Simeone and Oblak lament Atletico's slow start against Barcelona

Diego Simeone and Jan Oblak had to bemoan a slow start as Atletico Madrid fell to a frustrating 1-0 loss to Barcelona.

Ousmane Dembele's goal midway through the first half was enough to settle things, with Atletico unable to salvage a draw despite applying late pressure at Civitas Metropolitano, where Stefan Savic and Ferran Torres saw red for an off-the-ball clash in stoppage time.

The result leaves Simeone's men fifth in La Liga and catching up in the race for Champions League qualification, and the Atletico boss conceded a hesitant opener had cost his side dearly. team.

"It [the slow start] was clearly seen in the first 20 minutes, not because they created any scoring situations, but we couldn't get out," he said.

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"We couldn't take control of winning the ball to start attacking. After the goal we started to show more what we wanted. After that a good game was played, which turns me on and clears things up.

"The reality is that we lost. It's true that the team deserved to have another result… but we were missing decisive areas. We did more good things than bad.

"If we follow the example of what happened after those first 20 minutes, the team will compete as we want."

Goalkeeper Oblak, who made a smart save to prevent Pedri from making it 2-0 shortly after the opener, had a similar view of the game as his boss.

"We played a good game except for the first 25 minutes," he said. "We pressed very well, we had chances, but we were a bit unlucky to score.

"I think in general we played a good game and we should have scored, but we just couldn't put it.

"After Barcelona scored it became difficult, but we did everything we could."