{"id":295153,"date":"2026-02-13T01:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/295153\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T01:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T01:01:07","slug":"atletico-madrid-put-one-foot-in-copa-del-rey-final-after-first-half-blitz-stuns-barcelona-copa-del-rey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/295153\/","title":{"rendered":"Atl\u00e9tico Madrid put one foot in Copa del Rey final after first-half blitz stuns Barcelona | Copa del Rey"},"content":{"rendered":"

You must always have faith, Diego Simeone had insisted and so it was. A biblical storm blew through the Metropolitano, leaving Barcelona in pieces and Atl\u00e9tico Madrid<\/a> closer to a first Copa del Rey final in 13 years. \u201cI\u2019m not a wizard but I did believe that the team could play like this,\u201d Simeone said at the end of a wild night, yet even he could not have imagined anything quite like this, 45 extraordinary minutes giving his team a 4-0 lead to take to the Camp Nou in three weeks\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will remain in the memory however the tie ends,\u201d Simeone said, careful to note that this is not over yet. Hansi Flick, meanwhile, vowed that his Barcelona<\/a> team will fight, claimed they had been handed a \u201cgreat lesson\u201d that might yet be helpful, and outlined a plan for the second leg: 2-0 in each half. But an an own goal from Eric Garc\u00eda and three more before half-time here from Ademola Lookman, Antoine Griezmann and Juli\u00e1n Alvarez, did the kind of damage that will be mightily difficult to fix. Barcelona could not begin that task here, a Pau Cubars\u00ed effort ruled out after a seven-minute VAR check the only \u201cgoal\u201d of the second half. Indeed, another VAR check made their second leg task even harder when Eric Garc\u00eda was sent off in the final minutes.<\/p>\n

Enough had happened in the first half for an entire tie. \u201cThere was an incredible energy in the stadium and life is energy,\u201d Simeone said, his side going at Barcelona from the start. The first foul, on 30 seconds, was a fuse lit. Giuliano Simeone flew into Alejandro Balde and his teammates followed, a perfect storm unleashed that Barcelona could not escape. For 45 frantic, breathless minutes in which Flick\u2019s team didn\u2019t know which way to turn, Atl\u00e9tico Madrid ripped into them, leaving no place to take shelter and scoring four goals that genuinely should have been more.<\/p>\n

It may sound absurd to say that the opening goal was coming when it came on just six minutes, and via an own goal, but that was how it felt here and that feeling never went away. Jules Kound\u00e9 had already had to move fast to stop Alvarez getting in and Joan Garc\u00eda had saved from Giuliano Simeone inside two minutes, Griezmann\u2019s gorgeous cushioned pass into him then just the first brushstroke of what was becoming a masterpiece. And although that opening goal was ridiculous, Eric Garc\u00eda\u2019s back pass slipping under Joan Garc\u00eda\u2019s foot and over the line, Atl\u00e9tico didn\u2019t stop there.<\/p>\n

The smell of blood was too strong for that. Atl\u00e9tico streamed into the wide space beyond Barcelona\u2019s high line, screeched into every tackle, first to every ball. Barcelona were caught in the vortex, a nightmare, trapped on the page of a Where\u2019s Wally: everywhere they looked, there was a red and white shirt.<\/p>\n

On the left, Lookman flew past them. On the right Simeone, a neck-bulging, leg-whirring, heart-thumping Tasmanian devil of a footballer, flew past them. The right-back, Nahuel Molina bombing in from behind, flew past them too. Left-back Matteo Ruggeri resisted the urge to run, and instead successfully denied Lamine Yamal any place to play. Koke and Marcos Llorente, a man with the legs and lungs of 11 men, dominated the middle. Alvarez was \u2026 well, Barcelona didn\u2019t know where he was. Griezmann made it all make sense, subtle in the storm, as if conducting it.<\/p>\n

He also scored the second after just 13 minutes. As if to underline how complete Atl\u00e9tico were, the goal started with goalkeeper Juan Musso delivering a fabulous pass to Lookman on the left. Lookman found Alvarez, who speared ball rightwards. Molina slipped it in to Griezmann to score. Simeone turned to the supporters, demanding they play their part which they did, never falling silent, not even when Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez hit the bar soon after. They were the soundtrack, the rolling thunder in a storm which kept on coming.<\/p>\n

Eric Garc\u00eda (right) is shown a yellow card for fouling \u00c1lex Baena, which was later upgraded to a red. Photograph: \u00d3scar del Pozo\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Griezmann might have taken more time over a chance made by Lookman and Llorente, but only 30 seconds later he and Molina made another clear opportunity for Alvarez which Kound\u00e9 cleared off the line. Twenty-two minutes in and it was Atl\u00e9tico\u2019s sixth shot, all clear sights of goal. From their seventh, a couple of minutes later, Griezmann struck over. Again, Giuliano Simeone had raced free into space. The next time he flew up the right, Griezmann opening the cage and setting him free again, they scored their third. Lookman provided the finish this time.<\/p>\n

Flick took off Marc Casad\u00f3, pulling him close to offer an explanation. Casad\u00f3 had been booked for desperately taking down Giuliano who was escaping again and, besides, Barcelona had to do something, anything. But although L\u00f3pez got in soon after, Musso saved that and Atl\u00e9tico immediately went back at them, extending a lead that was already barely believable. Ripping Barcelona\u2019s left side open yet again, this time it was Molina who started it, Lookman laying off for Alvarez to hit a perfect finish that was a release too, the ball taking all his troubles with it.<\/p>\n

Under pressure and out of form of late, Alvarez had needed this. They all had. On the touchline, Simeone Sr set off on a sprint, his head in his hands. Alvarez closed his eyes and pointed skywards, liberated. Koke screamed. All over the place, players ran, roaring. It wasn\u2019t over, the tie not even a quarter done, but it felt that way, the unimaginable suddenly real, faith restored. \u201cThe people need a night like this,\u201d Simeone said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You must always have faith, Diego Simeone had insisted and so it was. A biblical storm blew through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-295153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}