Pau Cubarsí’s sending-off was decisive in a game where João Cancelo had a positive performance and Lamine Yamal always tried to push Barcelona forward.
BARCELONA — Atlético Madrid took a big step forward towards qualifying for the semi-finals, achieving an excellent 2-0 victory. But Barcelona will not give up and will seek a miracle at the Metropolitano on Tuesday.
Sometimes, a single play can decide the fate of a match and even an entire tie. That’s what happened yesterday, with just five minutes to go before half-time: Giuliano Simeone received a through pass, found himself alone, and before reaching the area was brought down by Pau Cubarsí. The referee signaled a foul and showed a yellow card to the Barça centre-back, but VAR, Christian Dingert, drew the attention of Romanian referee Kovács, who, after reviewing the play, decided to change his mind and punish the young player’s mistake with a red card. With the sending-off, Barça were condemned to play the rest of the match with one less player, but the misfortune didn’t end there: Julián Álvarez, tasked with taking the free-kick, shot with precision and power, sending the ball into the top left corner of the goal; Joan Garcia couldn’t reach the ball and prevent a truly spectacular goal.
Curiously, in last Sunday’s match between the two teams, the same thing happened, but in reverse; it was Atlético who, at the same point in the game, were reduced to ten men after Nico González was sent off.
Until that transcendent moment, Barcelona had been superior and created some good scoring opportunities. Lamine Yamal, very active, had a magnificent play, leaving three defenders behind. He didn’t score, but if he had, it would have been one of the best goals of the year.
On the other side of the attack, João Cancelo helped a lot, combining well with Rashford, who played well, but, it’s clear, he’s not Raphinha, the big absentee. Atlético, for their part, defended with order, launching counter-attacks whenever possible, and one of these resulted in a goal.
The setback was the injury to defender Hancko, who had to be replaced by Pubill, who received a yellow card and will miss the second leg.
Despite being a man down, Barcelona started the second half at full speed, establishing themselves in the visitors’ half and creating several scoring opportunities in the opening minutes. But neither these nor the chances they had until the end of the match were successful, largely due to the Argentine Musso.
