Barcelona have been left with a mountain to climb if they are to make it to the Champions League semi-finals as they went down 2-0 to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their quarter-final on Wednesday. The Blaugrana were left to rue Pau Cubarsi’s first-half red card, as goals from Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth secured victory for the visitors in Catalunya.
Still riding the wave from their 2-1 win over Atleti in La Liga on Saturday, Barca began the game well, and Marcus Rashford forced Juan Musso into three saves while also hooking a volley wide and having a goal ruled out for offside after Lamine Yamal strayed offside in the build-up.
The visitors had looked a minor threat on the counter-attack, but the game changed in the final minutes of the first half when Cubarsi was sent off for a trip on Giuliano Simeone after the Atletico winger had got in behind the Barca defence. Alvarez then added insult to injury by expertly curling the resulting free-kick into the top corner.
Despite their numerical advantage, Hansi Flick’s side didn’t hold back after the break, and Rashford continued to go close, first firing into the side netting after being played in by a delightful Yamal pass before he struck the crossbar with his own 20-yard free-kick.
But it was Diego Simeone’s team who grabbed the second goal of the game when, on a rare foray forward, substitute Sorloth got on the end of Matteo Ruggeri’s cross to fire past Joan Garcia. Barca continued to push for a way back into the game, with Joao Cancelo having a shot deflected onto the post while Russo saved from Yamal, but they could not find what might have been a crucial consolation.
GOAL rates Barca’s players from Camp Nou…
