The Brazilian netted twice for the visitors as Diego Simeone's men lost
their heads, with Gabi and Mario Suarez both getting sent off and Arda
throwing his boot at a linesman
Barcelona defeated nine-man Atletico Madrid 3-2 to progress to the last
four of the Copa del Rey 4-2 on aggregate after a sensationally volatile
encounter in the Spanish capital.
The Blaugrana arrived at the Vicente Calderon with a one-goal advantage
from last week's first leg at Camp Nou but Fernando Torres levelled the
tie on aggregate inside 60 seconds with a low finish, only for Neymar to
respond in kind in the ninth minute
Raul Garcia put Atletico back ahead on the night with a contentous
penalty but Barca went in 3-2 ahead at the break thanks to an own goal
from Miranda and Neymar's second strike of the evening.
Gabi was then dismissed during angry scenes during the half-time
interval that also saw Raul Garcia clash with the Barca bench, while
Arda Turan then dramatically threw his boot at a linesman early in the
second hal
All hope Atletico had of turning the tie around disappeared in the
closing stages when Mario Suarez was sent off for a second bookable
offence for dissent, thus bringing an end to an incredibly contentious
and exciting encounter.
Within the opening minute Torres had levelled the tie following some
uncharacteristic sloppy Barcelona defending from Javier Mascherano.
His long ball out of defence was intercepted by Guilherme Siqueira on the halfway line, he found Torres and the striker fired into the bottom corner.
With noise reverberating around the Vicente Calderon, Atletico appeared to have the upper hand, but Neymar soon quietened them down with an equaliser after nine minutes.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez combined well on the right-hand side,
before the latter played a perfect pass for the Brazilian, and he made
no mistake to beat Jan Oblak.
Neymar thought he had extended Barca's aggregate lead in the 18th minute
as he raced clear from a long clearance to score, but the assistant
referee's flag denied him on this occasion.
Antoine Griezmann should have restored Atletico's advantage on the
night three minutes before the half hour, but he fired straight at
Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
Within 60 seconds, though, they were ahead as Raul Garcia
scored from the spot - the midfielder firing home from 12 yards after
Mascherano was adjudged to have fouled Juanfran on the edge of the area
Barca levelled eight minutes later thanks to a Miranda own goal. The defender miscued a clearance into his own net following Sergio Busquets' header.
And, as the momentum shifted in their favour again, the Catalans went
in at the break ahead after another swift counter-attack. Atletico had
seen a penalty appeal waved away before Messi led the charge up the
other end of the pitch and found Jordi Alba, who played the ball in for Neymar to score.
The drama did not let up and, as tempers began to fray at the break,
Atletico midfielder Gabi was dismissed in the tunnel for his involvement
in a fracas.
Arda Turan was then lucky not to follow him early in the second half
when he was only shown a yellow card having thrown his boot at the
assistant after the the non-award of a foul.
Barcelona's man advantage enabled the visitors to dictate the pace in
the second 45 minutes, and they slowly took the sting out of Atletico's
play.
Diego Simeone's side were still able to create some chances, with
substitute Cani having the best of them when his 70th-minute strike was
well saved by Ter Stegen. But any hopes Atletico had of mounting a late
comeback ended with seven minutes remaining when Mario Suarez was sent
off.
Barca had done enough and now await Getafe or Villarreal in the semi-final, with those two due to meet on Thursday.
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