Atletico Destroy Barcelona in an Utterly Dominating 4-0 Victory in the Copa del Rey

There was shock and jubilation for Atletico Madrid fans after their team delivered a stunning result against La Liga frontrunners Barcelona, getting their foot in the door for the Copa del Rey final.

(Image credits to the guardian )

Going into the first leg of the semi finals, all expectations were placed on Barcelona’s sure victory, even being away from home. They have performed exceptionally well throughout the Copa del Rey and currently sit comfortably first in La Liga. Atletico Madrid, however, have had an up and down run of form as of late, but still sit third place in La Liga. With hopes for a win for Atleti sitting close to none, this shock of a result surprised not only Barcelona and their fans, but also Atletico fans too. Even though the odds seemed to be in Barcelona’s favour, holding 65% of possession, making almost double the amount of passes and 13 shots, Atleti proved once again that statistics only show us part of the full picture, and can almost be meaningless - especially in a game like this. Instead of discussing what went wrong for Barcelona, what is it that went perfectly right for Atletico Madrid?

Atletico Madrid made Barcelona’s defences look like child’s play during the first half of the game, and Barcelona just could not pick up the slack and produce goals. The first goal was an absolute disaster for the Barcelona keeper Joan Garcia, who miscalculated the backpass he received to watch the ball roll just over the line in the 7th minute. This, however, wasn’t entirely clear, as the play went on and Lookman also met the back of the net with a strike, where it was decided that the first time the ball passed over the line was when the goal counted. This was great for Atleti, taking full advantage of the misstep, but Lookman was still looking for his second goal for the club in this game. The lead was doubled in the 14th minute by the home side, where Antoine Griezmann struck a finely curled ball into the back of the net against his former club. Griezmann is the top goal-scorer for the Copa del Rey this season, making him a driving force for the club’s steady progression to this stage of the competition. If they were not already in full control of the field, Atletico Madrid were firmly commanding the pitch, looking to keep attacking and convert more of their chances into goals. With each dispossession, they attacked with full force towards the shaken and weakened Barcelona defences. 

(Image credits to AS USA)

Atletico Madrid’s third goal came from an attacking break in the 33rd minute from Giuliano, passing to Julian Alvarez who slipped the ball to Ademola Lookman, who then smashed the ball home, securing his much-awaited second goal for the club. The final goal in the game and to end the first half, Julian Alvarez hit a stunning goal from a large distance in added time. This ended his 11-match goalless streak in exciting fashion, a newfound passion emerging from the Argentinian during the celebrations. Going into the second half, Barcelona looked to score a few goals to try and aid their chances in progressing to the final before going into the second leg of the semi-finals at home. 

Just 5 minutes into the second half, Barcelona looked to take one goal back from Atleti, as substitute Robert Lewandowski sent the ball in the direction of Cubarsi, who knocked the ball into the back of the net. It appeared that the home side had no objections to the goal for foul play or an offside, however, after an agonising 8 minutes of VAR review time, the goal was ruled offside. With the lines to showcase the disallowed goal looking quite inconclusive and unclear to viewers, most were left confused with the decision of Cubarsi being offside, but it killed all attacking confidence and momentum that Barcelona could have built up for the game. Their fighting spirit had all but fizzled out for the rest of the game. If the night couldn’t get worse for Barcelona, Garcia was sent off with a straight red card as Alex Baena looked to score a fifth for his side as he hit Barcelona on the break. Now with 10 men, there was simply nothing that Barcelona could do: they were simply outclassed and outperformed by Atletico Madrid, who played an astonishing and entertaining game. 

(Image credits to BBC Sport Getty Images)

In the post-match news conference, both managers had completely different things to say. According to The Daily Mail, Atletico Madrid’s manager Diego Simeone spoke fondly about what this win meant for the fans:

“I think our people need these parties.

“It's clear, we know the rival we're going to face. We can't give up. There's a long way to go until the return leg but today we had a good joy for our people, who deserve it.”

ESPN reported on Barcelona manager Hansi Flick’s comments, discussing his team’s performance and what they will need to do in the next leg:

“We didn't play very good in the first half as a team. We had too much distance between everyone. We didn't press how we wanted.

“In the first 45 minutes or more, we got a lesson. Sometimes it's good in the right moment. Maybe today was the right moment.

“I am still proud of my team, maybe not today in the first 45 minutes, but across the whole season. When you see how many injuries we have all season, how we adapt...Today was a heavy loss but I am proud of my team.

“We will come back. We need to start from the beginning [of games]. When you see Atlético players, they had more will, more hunger. And this is what I want from the first minute. We didn't show that in the first half.

“We have the second leg. We will fight for that. If we are able to win each half 2-0, this is our goal. We need our fans in Camp Nou and we will see what happens.”

Article Written by Naeemah Pathan