Atletico Madrid exorcised their Camp Nou demons and will take a 2-0 advantage into next week’s Champions League quarter-final second leg after humbling Barcelona behind enemy lines for the first time in two decades.
Julian Alvarez emphatically punished a Pau Cubarsi red card, bending home an unstoppable free kick from the resulting dead ball to put Diego Simeone’s side ahead in the first half, before Alexander Sorloth poked home the visitors’ second to hand Atletico their first win at the Camp Nou since February 2006.
Barcelona battled gamely with 10 men in the second half but Atletico will be the favourites to reach the competition’s semi-finals when these two teams renew hostilities at the Metropolitano on April 14.
Dermot Corrigan, James Horncastle and Anantaajith Raghuraman break down the main talking points from a dramatic quarter-final tie.
How did this tie shift inside two first-half minutes?
The game began with a flurry of chances at both ends but then, after about 20 minutes, it settled down into a more tense tactical battle, with Barcelona having more of the ball but neither team wanting to overcommit.
But just before half-time, came a huge moment in the tie.
Julian Alvarez received the ball in some space in the opposition half and was able to curl a pass behind the Barcelona defence.
Giuliano Simeone was favourite to get to the ball and cleverly arced his run across the path of Cubarsi, who had been too slow to spot the danger.
Caught on the wrong side, the young Barca centre-back was unable to avoid making contact, and took out the Atletico attacker, with his left leg colliding with Simeone’s.
Pau Cubarsi fouls Giuliano Simeone, leading to his red card (Pablo Rodriguez/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
When referee Istvan Kovacs first showed a yellow card, Atletico figures, including coach Diego Simeone, complained loudly that Cubarsi was the last defender and had to be sent off.
Barca’s defence was potentially that Guiliano did not have the ball under control, so other players would have been able to get back to cover.
But VAR Christian Dingert called Kovacs over to watch the screen by the benches, and after taking his time to view the images, the experienced Romanian official changed his mind, taking back the yellow and showing a red instead.
It was not the first time Barca have had a defender sent off in big Champions League games in recent years. Cubarsi himself was shown a red away to Benfica in last season’s last-16 first leg, although the team survived to progress. Ronald Araujo was blamed by many Barca fans for his sending-off contributing directly to their defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the 2023-24 quarter-finals.
Things got even better for Atletico, and worse for Barcelona, as Alvarez curled the resulting free kick superbly over and around the wall into the top corner — with so much power on the shot that home ‘keeper Joan Garcia could not get across to save.
The Argentine is a possible Barca target in this summer’s transfer window — and showed his value both with the excellent pass leading to the red card, and then the exquisite free kick to put Atletico in control of the tie at the quarter-mark.
Dermot Corrigan
Atleti suffer with glee and make themselves semi-final favourites
Under one of the cranes at the Camp Nou, the plexiglass holding the Atleti fans in trembled. They had watched their team suffer. Now Atleti were the ones causing the suffering. Barcelona had Atleti pinned back and playing out from their own byline. Threat level: apparently zero.
But Atleti are at their most dangerous when they are in a corner, which is almost where Matteo Ruggeri found himself when he hoofed the ball clear and Alvarez sent Giuliano Simeone through one against one with Barcelona goalkeeper Joan Garcia.
The foul that the winger cleverly drew changed the game, as it led to Cubarsi’s red card. Alvarez then made the resulting free kick look like a penalty. Atleti had Barca right where they wanted them, even if it didn’t always feel that way.
Hansi Flick’s boldness in playing 4-3-2 with 10 men meant Barca created a flurry of early chances in the second half, only for Ruggeri to venture forward and cross for Alexander Sorloth’s clipped finish.
This was not a smash-and-grab from Atleti. They knew how to suffer and picked their moments with the maturity expected of a Simeone side. To win at the Camp Nou for the first time in 20 years felt big.
The tie is not over, even though Atleti will fancy their chances of knocking Barca out of a second cup competition this season, having already eliminated them from the Copa del Rey.
James Horncastle
How did Barcelona adapt with 10 men?
Barcelona mixed pragmatism with aggression to start the second half after Cubarsi’s sending-off.
When possible, they forced Atletico backwards and immediately pressed high, but dropped into a 4-4-1 with just Marcus Rashford up top when the visitors advanced close to or beyond the halfway line. They were brave in possession too, relying on the work rate of Gavi, Joao Cancelo and Dani Olmo to anchor the midfield. Cancelo, in particular, played a dual role, inverting into midfield from his role at left-back but providing just as much energy on the outside to dovetail with Fermin Lopez to give them an outlet down the left.
But it carried risk, particularly as the half went on and Barca tired physically and mentally. Sorloth’s goal came after Jules Kounde failed to have a look over his shoulder at Matteo Ruggeri’s run, with the full-back delivering the assist.
Lamine Yamal cuts a dejected figure after the game (Pablo Rodriguez/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
Atletico’s substitutions were smart, too. Sorloth’s arrival to partner Alvarez allowed Antoine Griezmann to drop deeper. The Frenchman, alongside Marcos Llorente and substitute Alex Baena, helped Atletico control possession and find the spare man either in midfield or with switches from one side to the other.
They still had chances later on. Cancelo won the ball high up the pitch to force a save from Musso, with Yamal seeing another attempt saved from the resulting corner. They ended the game with 18 shots to Atletico’s five.
A goal was not forthcoming, though, and Barcelona now have it all to do at the Metropolitano, where they lost 4-0 in the Copa del Rey but won 2-1 in La Liga at the weekend.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Should Barcelona have had a penalty for bizarre Pubill incident?
Early in the second half, Atletico had a goal kick and centre-backs Marc Pubill and Robin Le Normand lined up either side of goalkeeper Juan Musso deep in the penalty area.
Musso touched the ball with his hand and then played it sideways to Pubill. The young defender then crouched down and touched the ball with both hands, stopping it on the edge of the six-yard box. He then tapped the ball sideways to Musso, who passed the ball further up the pitch.
Some Barca players immediately called for a penalty. Pubill had been booked earlier by referee Istvan Kovacs, so another potential yellow for deliberate handball would have seen him sent off and both teams playing from then on with 10 men.
Blaugrana coach Hansi Flick was angry when he spoke on Movistar TV afterwards.
“The situation with the handball was very clear, I don’t know why VAR did not enter,” he said. “He (Dingert) is a German guy, it is incredible. We all make mistakes but these types of situations are why we have VAR. I cannot understand because normally, it’s a penalty and a second yellow, and red (for Pubill).”
You might remember a similar incident which happened between Aston Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez and defender Tyrone Mings in a Champions League game against Club Brugge in November 2024, when the officials did rule that Martinez had put the ball into play, so Mings reaching down to stop the ball with his hand meant a penalty had to be awarded.
Although, the one major difference in this case was that Mings touched the ball with his hand after the ball had already left the six-yard box.
Dermot Corrigan
Stone-throwing and anti-Muslim chants spoil pre-match scenes
Amid a heated atmosphere pre-game, Atletico’s team bus was hit by stones thrown by Barcelona supporters as it approached the stadium.
Atletico director of football Mateu Alemany told Movistar TV that the incident did not affect his club’s view of Barca’s fans in general.
“The same thing happened in Copa (del Rey) second leg (a few weeks ago), but a few louts do not represent Barca’s fanbase,” said Alemany, who held the same role at Barcelona from March 2021 to September 2023
Catalan newspaper Sport also published a video which appeared to show some visiting fans outside a bar near the Camp Nou chanting, “Bote, bote, bote musulman el que no bote”, which translates to “jump, jump, jump, whoever doesn’t jump is a Muslim”.
This was the same chant which marred Spain’s friendly against Egypt in the Catalan capital last week. Barca and Spain star Lamine Yamal — as well as many Spanish politicians and football figures — condemned those chants.
Dermot Corrigan