Neymar
provided the sublime, but there was no shortage of the ridiculous last
night in a bizarre cup-tie at the Vicente Calderon in which Fernando
Torres scored after 39 seconds, Arda Turan threw his boot at the
linesman, Gabi was sent off in the dressing room at half-time, Jord Alba
was knocked to the ground by a linesman’s flag, and Atletico were
reduced to nine men when Mario Suarez tried to kick Leo Messi.
It
was the game that had everything – and most of it inside one half.
Inside the first minute Torres had given Atletico Madrid the lead and
drawn the tie level at 1-1. It was the third goal he had scored in the
Copa del Rey this season and all of them have come inside the first
minute of either the first or second half.
Javier
Mascherano was at fault. First he tried to play a high diagonal ball
out of defence and when it came straight back at him via the boot of
Siqueira, Torres got to it first, turned his former Liverpool team-mate
and sent a cool finish inside Marc-Andre ter Stegen’s far corner.
VIDEO Scroll down for Sportsmail's Big Match Stats: Atletico Madrid 2-3 Barcelona
Neymar silences the Vicente Calderon after firing Barcelona 3-2 up on the night against Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey
Spanish striker Fernando Torres opened the scoring at the Vicente Calderon after just 39 seconds during a pulsating first-half
The former Chelsea striker has returned to his boyhood club and has already strengthened his heroic status at the Madrid club
Brazil star Neymar with a clinical
finish within 10 minutes to level the scored at 1-1 on the night in the
Copa del Rey quarter-final clash
Neymar runs away in celebration with
fellow Barcelona forward Luis Suarez after scoring the away side's first
at the Vicente Calderon
Atletico Madrid's midfielder Raul
Garcia celebrates after scoring a goal during the Spanish Copa del Rey
quarter final second leg
It
was the perfect start for Atletico Madrid but it lasted as long as it
took Barceona’s front three to click into gear. Messi started the move
skipping away from Mario Suarez on the halfway line and releasing Luis
Suarez. He turned inside and with the outside of his right foot found
Neymar bearing down on goal. The Brazilian took one touch and with his
next buried the shot past Jan Oblak.
Raul
Garcia went into the book for a foul on Jordi Alba and the full-back
was in the wars again on minute 25 this time courtesy of the linesman.
The defender chased a loose ball off the pitch and when he came back on
he made his entrance under the linesman’s arm just as he brought it
down, flag in hand, right onto the player’s head knocking him to the
ground.
We
still weren’t past the half hour mark and so much had already happened.
Atletico were next to score with the most dubious of penalties. They
had a player down in the area but full-back Juanfran ploughed on
straight at the heart of Barca’s defence reaching Mascherano on the edge
of the area. He nutmugged the Argentine running straight into him and
going to ground. Arguably it wasn’t even a foul and it certainly wasn’t
inside the box but the referee pointed to the spot and Raul Garcia made
it 2-1 on the night.
Gimenez
bundled over Suarez at the other end only for the referee to wave away
all appeals and Barca were beginning to feel hard done by but their luck
soon changed.
First
Miranda put through his own net under pressure from Suarez after
Rakitic had headed down an Andres Iniesta corner. Then with the score
back at 2-2 on the night Jordi Alba handled Antoine Greizmann’s shot in
the area. The referee should have given a penalty. He didn’t and Alba
immediately raced down the other end onto Messi’s pass and crossed for
Neymar to make it 3-2 on the night.
The
referee’s whistle blew for half-time but there was more to come as the
players made their way to the tunnel. First Neymar and Raul Garcia had
words. Torres then needed to be dragged away from the Brazilian and when
Gabi, who had already been booked took the trouble down the tunnel and
towards the dressing rooms he was sent off leaving Atletico to face the
second period with 10-men.
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