3 takeaways from Barcelona's victory over Atletico Madrid: La Liga is a 1-horse race

When Atletico Madrid captured its 10th La Liga crown just under two years ago, Los Rojiblancos did so on Catalan soil, earning a point at Barcelona on the final day of the season to dethrone the reigning champion.

There would be no repeat of such a result on Saturday.

In a top-of-the-standings clash at the Camp Nou, Barcelona demonstrated why the suggestion of a title race in Spain is laughable, defeating Atleti 2-1 and re-establishing itself as the club who is in full control in the top flight of Spanish football.

Here are three takeaways from the encounter:

A 24th La Liga title is Barcelona's to lose

Barcelona, Atleti, and Real Madrid are, as usual, the three clubs atop the La Liga standings, but, if results between the trio of Spanish clubs are any indication of who will be popping champagne come May, all signs point to the Blaugrana clinching a 24th title.

Forget Real Madrid, who Barcelona thrashed 4-0 in the most recent edition of El Clasico. The only club capable of blocking the Catalan crew's shining path is Atleti by virtue of the latter's versatile tactics. But, after falling 2-1 to Barcelona at the Vicente Calderon in September and suffering another 2-1 defeat to Barcelona at the Camp Nou on Saturday, Atleti will finish the season with zero points against Luis Enrique's side.

There's really no reason to believe that Barcelona won't defend its crown.

Only Barcelona can expose Atletico Madrid's defence

Entering the fixture, Atleti had, remarkably, only conceded eight goals in La Liga this season. By the final whistle, Los Rojiblancos had conceded another two, bringing the tally to 10 goals.

Guess who has scored nearly half of those goals.

Atleti's quartet of Juanfran, Diego Godin, Jose Maria Gimenez, and Filipe Luis is, undoubtedly, the best defensive unit in Spain and arguably in Europe. There isn't a club who pressures at the back, shuts down opponents, and throws bodies in front of shots like Los Rojiblancos. For the first half-hour of the match, Barcelona would build something, only to have Atleti break it up.

Then, Barcelona came to life, forcing Atleti to sit increasingly deep and finally finding an equaliser through Lionel Messi before Luis Suarez scored a winner. The Blaugrana's relentless attack resulted in Luis and Godin receiving their marching orders, the former of which hadn't seen a red card in over two years.

Simply put, Barcelona reduced Atleti's renowned backline to tatters.

Atletico Madrid's tactics deserve applause

Following Luis' terrible challenge on Messi just before the interval, supporters could be forgiven for assuming that Barcelona would control the game in the second half.

Related - VIDEO: Filipe Luis sent off for terrible challenge on Lionel Messi

That, however, isn't how things played out.

Upon going down to 10 men, Atleti launched its trademark counterattacks with twice the conviction, and even after Godin was sent off in the 65th minute, Los Rojiblancos still managed to threaten Barcelona and continued to offer the odd attack. For most clubs, going down to nine men is a death sentence.

Make no mistake about it: Atleti is far more than just a defensive monster.