Simeone and Atlético paint a Copa del Rey masterpiece against Barça

Madrid, 7 February — Atlético Madrid produced a first-half blitz for the ages, shredding FC Barcelona 4-0 in the opening leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final at a raucous Estadio Metropolitano and all but booking a trip to the final before March’s return leg.

Diego Simeone’s side needed only 45 minutes to turn the tie on its head, the damage started by an Eric García own goal and finished by a thunderbolt from Julián Álvarez, with Antoine Griezmann and deadline-day revelation Ademola Lookman also on target. The quartet of goals arrived inside a whirlwind opening period in which Atleti struck the woodwork twice and forced Iñaki Peña into a string of desperate saves.

Barcelona, who arrived as the competition’s form team, never recovered from the early barrage. Their lone moment of respite — Pau Cubarsí’s scrappy finish seven minutes after the restart — was erased by an offside flag following an exhaustive VAR review. García’s miserable night was complete when he collected a second yellow in the 84th minute, ruling him out of the Camp Nou date and compounding the visitors’ misery.

The rout continued a striking pattern under Simeone: Atlético simply do not do slow starts in knockout ties. Last season they stunned Barça by scoring twice inside six minutes in the corresponding fixture; in 2018 Diego Costa netted within 50 seconds of the UEFA Super Cup; Saúl Ñíguez needed four minutes to open the scoring against Liverpool in 2020. Thursday’s exhibition suggested the Argentine coach’s planteamiento — an aggressive, front-foot approach — remains perfectly calibrated to exploit Barça’s high defensive line.

While the forwards stole the headlines, Juan Musso quietly delivered the game’s most complete performance between the sticks. The Argentine backup, preferred in cup competitions, rushed off his line to deny Ferrán Torres at 2-0 and later clawed away a Raphinha drive that looked destined for the top corner. His quick release ignited the second goal, a laser-like punt that sent Lookman haring away to double the advantage. Fotmob’s algorithm graded him 8.7 — the highest mark on the pitch — while local ratings panel Into the Calderón handed him a rare 8.

For Julián Álvarez, the strike carried added catharsis. The World Cup winner had gone 13 matches and 65 days without scoring, spurning a gilt-edged chance at 2-0 before lashing a 25-metre rocket into the top-left corner to make it four. The relief was visible as he sprinted toward the Atlético ultras, spider-monkey celebration in tow.

Possession told a misleading story: Barça hogged 66 percent of it yet rarely looked capable of breaching Musso’s goal. Atlético’s clinical edge — four goals from 12 attempts — finally delivered the contundencia Simeone has demanded all winter. Alexander Sørloth, guilty of profligate finishing in recent weeks, watched from the bench as his teammates converted chances at will.

On the defensive side, Matteo Ruggeri largely neutralised 16-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal until an audacious second-half back-heel almost gifted Barça a consolation, only for Cubarsí’s effort to be chalked off. Eric García’s dismissal ended any faint hopes of a comeback; the defender will now sit out the second leg while his teammates attempt to preserve a four-goal cushion.

The result matched Barcelona’s worst Copa del Rey first-half deficit since an 8-0 humiliation at the hands of Real Madrid in 1943. On this evidence, the Catalans will need something approaching a miracle in three weeks’ time; Atlético, meanwhile, can already dream of a return to the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville on 26 April.

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