It was, as they say, a tale of two halves.
In the first act, Barcelona utterly dominated Atletico Madrid and looked like it might run out to a large away victory in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal. In the second book, however, Atletico put Barca under sustained pressure and came close to an equalizer several times.
Nonetheless, Barcelona eked out the 2-1 win, courtesy of a 50-yard dribbling run by Luis Suarez and a Lionel Messi cannonball off the post from well out of the box. Antoine Griezmann got the goal for Atletico with a header.
Just six minutes in, Barca stalwart Javier Mascherano tackled a ball into Suarez’s path at the halfway line. The Uruguayan then traversed the entire Atletico half, evading the four defenders who had him surrounded, and beat goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya with a sneaky side-foot poke.
Neymar had a pair of opportunities before the half hour. But the Brazilian remains some way off from his best form. First, he cut inside but put his shot right at Moya. The second time around, he couldn’t connect the final pass when he, Suarez and Messi ran riot through Atletico’s defense.
Messi got what turned out to be the winner in the 33rd minute. Ivan Rakitic got the ball from him and returned it to Messi outside the box. From there, the little Argentine rifled an uncharacteristically long shot off the far post and into the net.
As the second half began, Atletico Madrid gave a quick spasm of danger to indicate that it would no longer be sleepwalking through the game, as fiery manager Diego Simeone gesticulated on the sideline. Jordi Alba made a big block on Fernando Torres to prevent an early goal for Atleti.
And then, just before the hour, a deep free kick headed across by Diego Godin was nodded in by Griezmann with Atletico’s first shot on target of the entire game.
A few minutes later, Griezmann was denied point-blank by backup goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen from a few feet out. And then Yannick Ferreira Carrasco bicycled a shot just over.
Messi almost got a second goal against the run of play in the second half. This time the temporary captain, who has been firing in free kicks left and right this season, sent a set piece soaring to the top corner of Moya’s goal. But the goalie sprawled and got just enough on the ball to push it away, with help from the crossbar.
The second half was largely an Atletico assault on Cillessen’s goal, and with the occasional mistake, he didn’t make his own life any easier. Late on, Torres got another crack but pushed his shot wide.
Barcelona will gladly take the lead home for the second leg next Tuesday. With the La Liga campaign in shambles and seven games separating Los Cules from more Champions League glory, the Copa still represents the best chance to win something this relatively difficult season – by Barca’s standards.
Photo: Barca leads its semifinal tie thanks to goals by Messi and Suarez. (Getty Images)
Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.
