Barcelona v Atlético Madrid: La Liga – live!

51 min: It has to be said Barcelona are not at their best. Enough to get Mike Phelan rubbing his shorts in anticipation ahead of the tactical masterclass he can prepare for them next week.

49 min: Barcelona are trying to do this slowly, taking their time before finding the spaces. Messi is at the centre of it, but he still has Saul breathing down his neck.

47 min: L’eminence Griez takes a corner, and is booed by the Barca fans, for the sin of not joining their club?

46 min: Ok, we are back underway here. The talk is still of Costa, though no doubt Simeone has made plans without his dissident striker. Correa and Alba clash and it looks like Alba came off worse, though he will try to run this off.

William Hargreaves has a take: “With reference to 20.39: he was saying that his favourite beverage is a Costa’s latte, but not the way his mother makes it.”

Yes, that must be it.

“Does it look like dissent John? Because as a football journalist you surely know that dissent is a yellow card offence right? Insulting, Abusive or Offensive language or gesture,” says Josh in Cardiff. Yes, Josh, but I am not the referee.

Shaun Vandersteen, in Barcelona, has an idea what Costa said, as he “can lipread Spanish”, and it involved Diego doing something very dirty to the referee’s mother’s milk. Thanks for emailing in, Shaun.

45+3 min: That’s half-time, and the incident that those 45 minutes will be recalled for will be the harsh words Costa had for the referee and his resultant red card. Diego Simeone was waiting for the referee at the tunnel to give his view, though hopefully in a more polite fashion.

45+1 min: There are three added minutes in this half, which has been frenetic, and full of incident, if short of the highest class.

45 min: Messi has been something of a passenger here, though his presence has dragged other players elsewhere. Saul is sat on Messi, pretty much, though he gets a first touch in ten minutes or so and fires it straight at Oblak.

43 min: Suarez tries to send Coutinho down the left, but it is overhit. Unfortunate for Coutinho, for whom life is not going smoothly at Barca yet, is it? And all that money, too.

41 min: Simeone is organising his team to sit deep and see this out until half-time. Despite what looked like his utter stupidity, Costa is missed. He had made an even contest of it. Now we are watching a session of attack v defence.

39 min: Chaos for Atleti as Godin and Oblak get in a right tangle, and then Suarez, with the angle closed off, backheels blindly in the direction of Messi. The ball is pumped clear.

37 min: Barcelona force a corner. They take it short, rather than go all Allardyce. And choose to be patient. Suarez makes a penalty claim with some theatrics. No dice.

36 min: There has been no football played since that latest Costa Crime, but Barcelona are pushing forward. Atleti are now playing a long-ball game.

34 min: We are seeing the incident again. The referee had allowed an advantage, which Costa took exception to, and in no uncertain terms…Atleti make their change. Off goes Arias, and on come Correa, an attacker.

32 min: Nobody seems to know what caused that eruption and dismissal aside from the ref taking exception to Costa being Costa, but Pique the peacemaker won the day in marching Costa off. Atleti are preparing a sub.

30 min: Well, that was entirely in character from Costa. He exploded into temper. Diego Simeone looks downcast on the sidelines. Their chance gone already?

It looks like dissent. Was it something off the ball? It’s not clear. Pique walks Costa off, as Costa is given his marching orders. He was right in the face of the referee.

28 min: What a save from Oblak, though he was given a chance by Coutinho not quite connecting.

27 min: Ole in the stands wondering if Phil Jones and Chris Smalling can play like Godin and Gimenez. Perhaps best not to start thinking about that.

25 min: A speedy attack from Barcelona, perhaps too speedy; Messi and Suarez’s exchange of play is too helter skelter. They seem determined to get the job done quickly. And Atletico are pushing them into such mistakes.

23 min: Barcelona, a little rattled? Messi is fouled, and in the territory from which he rattled in the ball against Villarreal. This time, he can’t keep it down.

21 min: Griezmann escapes down the left of Barcelona’s attack, which has been a weak point, and gets in a shot that does not trouble Ter Stegen.

20 min: Thomas emails in, and he is absolutely right: “Hey John, This might seem a little pedantic but PSG is on track for only their second Ligue 1 title in a row as AS Monaco won in 2016-2017.”

19 min: Atleti doing a fair amount of attacking here. Koke and Thomas are at the forefront. Griezmann has been quiet so far.

17 min: Arias, on the right, burst on to Costa’s flick, but it was Pip Coutinho sat back doing the defending.

15 min: The post is hit by Barca! Jordi Alba overlapped inside, and then smashed the ball past Oblak but off the post…who set up the chance? Well, you know who, and Messi’s pass was unbelievably good. Oblak was beaten but his size made Alba smash the ball harder than he might perhaps have liked.

13 min: Suarez and Godin clash, two Uruguay colleagues and friends, but they won’t be backing down between them. Godin went piling in. Oh, there will be needle here.

11 min: Barcelona step it up, and go on the attack. Messi rides a couple of hefty challenges. Coutinho has a shot blocked and the corner is cleared. Then Suarez makes a mess of a cross and makes his apologies. Meanwhile, Busquets looks to have a hand injury, perhaps his wrist, but he is playing on.

9 min: Costa is up for this one, and goes close with a header. Back in his heyday of five years ago, he was a thorn in Barcelona’s side.

8 min: Lenglet took a hell of a whack from Diego Costa, which was true to form of the striker. The fans wanted more, but just a stern word from the referee.

5 min: Er, slight technical hitch there, but we/you have not missed any goals. Off we go in earnest now, and as expected, Atleti are sat deep as Barca push on.

Lionel Messi receives a Liga player of the month award from Patrick Kluivert and away we can go….

Ok, here we go. The teams are in the tunnel. Ole is sat in the cushioned seats, and has his notebook out. Barcelona look pretty relaxed, and take to the field with their anthem ringing out.

More on that team news. That Valverde selection means Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Ivan Rakitic return to the Barcelona team, while Pip Coutinho gets another chance, with Ousmane Dembele sitting this out as he recovers from a thigh injury. For Atleti, Diego Costa is back, which benches Alvaro Morata.

Sid Lowe on that amazing night at Villarreal.

Barcelona only drew in midweek, but their match at Villarreal was one for the ages. It finished 4-4, with goals from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in the 90th minute hauling back the champions and league leaders. But what goals. Messi, on as a sub, as his team cannot live without him, rattled a free-kick off the post, and deliberately while Suarez showed he has not lost his killer’s instinct with the sharpest of finishes.

A loss there might well have opened up the Liga title race, but today’s match is where it might well be ended. Atlético Madrid are eight points behind, with eight matches to play. Even a Barcelona draw could close off the race. Atlético’s loss at Bilbao three weeks ago all but killed their title chances. And even with Manchester United in mind for Tuesday night, Lionel Messi will not be rested. In 37 appearances against Atlético in all competitions, Messi has scored 28 goals.