The setback for the Catalan giants has reopened the race for the Primera Liga title and now Barca lead bitter rivals Real Madrid by only four points.

Torres pounced in the opening minute and then scored a penalty in injury-time to give the points to Atletico.

FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho missed a penalty which would have allowed Barcelona to get back into the game after 69 minutes.

Once more racism reared its head in the Liga with pre-match appeals to desist from racial chanting falling on deaf ears as Atletico's Luis Perea was targeted by home fans.

Barcelona got the worst possible start, conceding a goal with just a minute on the clock as a result of clinical finishing from Torres.

The backline were caught napping as Ariel Ibagaza brilliantly flicked on a ball to the striker known as ``El Nino''.

Torres took it in his stride before shooting into a corner left-footed from 15 yards.

The home side tried to hit back and were posing problems if no real openings.

A Ludovic Giuly cross was knocked behind for a corner and Deco was crafting delightful balls for the forward line but Atletico's defence was holding firm.

In fact Perea was doing an excellent job containing the live-wire Samuel Eto'o, matching him step for step.

Eto'o did have an opening on the edge of the area midway through the first half but his shot wide belied the excellent build-up play which had seen Xavi Hernandez flick a Ronaldinho ball into the path of the Cameroon international.

Both sides were battling hard and strong challenges were keeping the fans animated.

Meanwhile, no penalty was awarded when Giuly went down in the box under a challenge from Pablo Ibanez and Perea.

Atletico were unsettling Barca sufficiently to prevent the Azulgrana from playing their normal passing game.

As the first half came to an end Atletico had chances to go further ahead.

First Victor Valdes excellently parried a Torres shot and then Marcelo Sosa failed to connect with a long ball into the area.

Coach Frank Rijkaard brought the experienced Demetrio Albertini on for Rafael Marquez as a direct swap at the start of the second half hoping that the Italian's more incisive passing could improve the team.

But Barca were out of sorts and relying on long balls to find Ronaldinho and Eto'o.

Youngster Andres Iniesta was then brought on for the ineffective Giuly and almost made an immediate impact dribbling into the area but Perea was able to dispossess him.

Ronaldinho was handed the chance to equalise on a plate with 20 minutes to go but shot wide with his spot-kick.

Eto'o was upended by Perea but while TV replays showed he was outside the box the referee Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez pointed to the spot.

The Brazilian took the penalty but missed the target.

Torres went on to give Atletico a second in the last minute of injury-time with a penalty kick.

He latched on to a long ball from midfield and was upended by Valdes.

The Spanish international took the penalty and found the top corner.