Miracle worker: Atletico bring Flick closer to the throne of Guardiola and Cruyff

23 comebacks in 133 matches

This is no fluke, and it's more than a passing surge of enthusiasm. What Hansi Flick is doing with Barcelona has become a phenomenon worthy of study, a story written in letters of gold in the history of the Catalan club.

Barcelona were collapsing against Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano. Flick did it again. He turned a deficit into a win, doubt into certainty, and a match that looked lost into a victory that secured top spot.

That win makes the German the third coach in Barcelona's history to rack up the most victories after falling behind, and he's doing it in a timeframe nobody has matched.

The start was anything but easy. Before Giuliano's goal in the tenth minute, a clear one-on-one chance fell to Julian Alvarez, but Joan Garcia dealt with it brilliantly.

The crossbar then denied a Pubill header from a corner, and Barcelona's goalkeeper intervened again to stop shots from Julian and Kang-in Lee.

Struggling throughout the first half, Barcelona saw those doubts grow with Giuliano's goal. Flick's side stayed patient, though, and weathered Atletico's early onslaught before recovering to come back in the end.

Their performance improved as the half wore on. A golden chance fell to Pedri in the seventh minute, but his shot rebounded off the post. Fermin then found space in the 45th minute to level with a superb left-footed strike.

That goal changed the course of the match. Barcelona came out for the second half with a different morale, and it showed from the restart. Flick's men turned the tables, the momentum swung towards the Blaugrana, and Oblak's goal came under repeated threat.

The improvement peaked in the 66th minute when Fermin completed the comeback, beating the Slovenian goalkeeper from a Lamine pass.

From there, 2-1 held until the final whistle. Barcelona kept their three-point lead over Real Madrid and pulled five points clear of Atletico, who'd had the chance to go ahead.

This comeback was Hansi Flick's 23rd since his arrival at Barcelona. This season alone, he has turned a deficit into victory against Rayo Vallecano (5-2), Sevilla (3-1), Galatasaray (4-1) and Atletico Madrid (2-1).

As RAC1 journalist Oriol Jove noted, the German has achieved this feat in just 133 matches, and he's on course to surpass the record numbers of Guardiola and Cruyff in no time at all.

Flick has turned the result around in 24 of the 249 matches he's led Barcelona in. Cruyff, who tops the ranking, managed a similar comeback in 28 of the 430 matches he coached the Blaugrana.

The numbers say it all. Flick needs just one comeback to equal Guardiola, and only five more to equal Cruyff, yet he's done it in less than half their matches. He isn't just closing in on the legends. He's threatening to smash their numbers in record time.