Starting XI for Atletico Madrid
Starting XI for FC Barcelona:
Atlético Madrid was in the brink of something new. It looked like they were going to eliminate Barcelona from the Spanish Copa del Rey competition. They were fighting, pushing, and pressuring the Catalan team since the beginning of the game. Atlético Madrid took on Barcelona on Wednesday night at the Vicente Calderon, a stadium that puts a lot of pressure on the visiting team, a stadium in which teams have a hard time focusing due to the fans being so loud and supportive of the Rojiblancos.
FC Barcelona was on a 9-game winning streak coming into the game and Atleti was on a 4-game winning streak at home as well. But one of those winning streaks came to an end today as Barcelona found a way to beat Atlético Madrid 3-2 (4-2 aggregate) on the second leg of the Quarterfinals. A lot happened throughout the game but the majority of the action was all in the first half.
Fernando Torres, the magic boy of Atlético so far this second half of the season, has been on great form. It looked like the Torres we knew was on hibernation and decided to show what he was made off with the club that started his career. It didn’t take more than 40 seconds for Fernando Torres to do what he did to Real Madrid in the Round of 16 in both matchups. A pass from Javier Mascherano is what started it all. As he pass crossed the ball, it looked like his intention was to give the ball to Lionel Messi but Guilherme Siqueira intervened. As it was coming back to Mascherano via the boot of Siqueira, Torres got to it first with his back against the goal. Torres went one on one against his former Liverpool teammate, making him think he was going to the left but juked him and went right and had a clear shot. The ball went passed Mascherano and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, hit the left bottom post and in it went. 40 seconds were all it took for Atlético to be in the lead against Barcelona.
An incredible performance from Fernando Torres just seconds into the game helped his team secure a tie in aggregate and give the Catalan club hell. But Barcelona answered right back just nine minutes into the game and it all started with no other than the Argentinian, Lionel Messi. Messi put the ball through Mario Suarez’s legs on the halfway line and released to Luis Suarez. Suarez then turned inside and with the outside of his right foot found Neymar running down the field. The Brazilian then took one touch and with the next touch, he got it past goalkeeper Jan Oblak. This put the game leveled and Barcelona back in the lead on aggregate.
But this was just the beginning of the first half. The game had a funny moment in which Raul Garcia went into the books thanks to the linesman. Jordi Alba chased after the loose ball as it was going off the pitch and the linesman showed that it was Atlético’s ball with the flag pointing to the Rojiblanco’s side. Just as the flag came down, it hit Jordi Alba straight in the head and caused an outraged as Raul Garcia pushed the linesman away, telling him to forget about the hit and let the game continue but that caused a Yellow card to be shown to Raul Garcia.
We weren’t even past the half hour mark when a controversial call came into play. A player of Atlético was down in the box but the game continued and it was Juanfran Torres that went against Mascherano on the edge of the area. Juanfran nutmugged the Argentinian running straight into him and went straight down to the ground. As we can see on the replay underneath, arguably it wasn’t a foul and to make matters worse not even a penalty, which the ref pointed to when Juanfran went down. The action happened just outside the box but there was nothing Barcelona can do as Raul Garcia made it 2-1 with the penalty they were awarded.
This put Atlético Madrid leveled on aggregate once again and was hoping to take the lead but 8 minutes later we saw Barcelona get on the scoreboard thanks to an own goal by João Miranda. Miranda put the ball through his own net while being under pressure from Luis Suarez after Sergio Busquets had headed down an Ivan Rakitiç corner. With the score back at 2-2, Barcelona was back in the lead with a 3-2 aggregate score.
Three minutes later, Barcelona striked again but in another controversial call. As Fernando Torres passed it to Antoine Griezmann, Griezmann’s effort to get the ball in the net hit Jordi Alba’s elbow, in which the call should have been a penalty as Atlético players were claiming for the handball, but the game continued.
This caused for Atlético’s defensive wall to fall, allowing Messi to get possession, go down 40 yards before feeding it to Jordi Alba, who came all the way from the other side of the field. Jordi Alba was able to whip it across the box and Neymar got past Oblak before walking the ball into the net. This gave Barcelona a 3-2 lead in the game and a 4-2 lead in aggregate.
From here things got worse for Diego Simeone’s side. As the referee’s whistle blew for half time, Raul Garcia and Neymar had an exchange of words. Fernando Torres then got involved with Neymar and the pushing and shoving came into play. Torres had to be dragged away from Neymar by Busquets and midfielder and captain Gabi Fernandez, who was already booked got involved in the fracas inside the tunnel and towards the dressing rooms and was shown another yellow card, leaving Atlético Madrid down to 10 men for the second half.
The second half came into play as Barcelona saw themselves in the lead and Atlético Madrid started with 10 men. Three minutes in, it seemed like the Rojiblancos were going to be down to 9 men as a furious Arda Turan threw his boot at the linesman but escaped the red card and was shown a yellow instead by the ref. Manager Luis Enrique protested to the fourth official but it wasn’t enough as they continued with 10 men on the field.
In the 70th minute, Ruben Cani had a chance to tie the game and get his team down to one on aggregate. Cani found time to get the ball into his possession, got it down with his chest and slammed the ball towards ter Stegen’s goal, but the German keeper was there to save his team.
A minute later, Barcelona also had a chance. It all started with Neymar finding Rafinha, and then passed the ball to Messi. Messi was too soft with the ball though and Oblak saved Atlético from being down 3 goals instead of 2. In the 82nd minute, Mario Suarez was shown a second yellow card then a red when his studs of his cleats went down the back of Lionel Messi’ Achilles. Atlético remained with 9 men on the field and weren’t able to secure the three goals they needed to win the match.
Barcelona was able to get the win and head to the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey competition. Neymar gets the Man of the Match as he was able to get two goals, one in which we saw him just walk it into the net. Diego Simeone’s side lost their heads after they saw Suarez get a red card. They had eight men booked and weren’t able to control the game at all after losing Gabi at halftime. Barcelona, on the other hand, had their luck turned around and was able to get possession of the game after Neymar’s second goal came into play. Barcelona will have to wait to see who they face in the semi-finals but won’t have much competition as three of the toughest opponents are out, that being Real Madrid, Valencia and Atlético Madrid.
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