A goal down to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-final first leg, just three days after losing at home to eternal rivals Real Madrid had put their league title challenge into at least a small amount of doubt, the previously unbeatable were suddenly looking very frail.
Advertisement
It was the second game in a row at the Camp Nou in which Atletico players were sent off. They finished with nine men when they lost to Barcelona 2-1 in January in the Spanish league.
“I saw an even game in the first half, in which we were a bit imprecise”, the Barca coach said.
At the 25-minute mark, El Niño pounced on a beautifully threaded Koke pass to give Los Colchoneros a vital away goal. Weirdly, for what are basically, as previously discussed, friendlies, there were 12 yellow cards shown in the former tie and 11 in the latter, two of them in the second leg to Arda Turan.
Barcelona’s energy understandably went up as Atletico hunkered down, but the second half is where the Catalans really began to dominate. “I was part of the Atletico squad that beat Real Madrid 1-0 with a goal from Diego Costa, so why not aim to repeat that kind of performance?”
Diego Simeone refused to blame Fernando Torres for Barcelona’s turnaround after the Atletico Madrid striker’s red card triggered a comeback from the hosts at the Camp Nou.
“They won, they have the result on their side, they had a lot of chances, and fortunately for us they only scored two goals, so it could have been worse”. We knew that was going to happen, Barcelona in the Champions League. The Turk has since upped sticks and joined Barcelona, which will surely add to the spirit of jolly bonhomie this evening.
“We have to go out as strong as possible for the first half hour, try to get on top of the opposition and to get a goal”.
For anyone who can not catch the game live, we’ll provide free highlights and a full-match replay right here on BTSport.com and the BT Sport app shortly after the final whistle is blown.
“But I am proud to play in this team”. “I’m sad for having left my team with 10”.
Advertisement
However, Atletico were enraged as unlike Torres, Suarez escaped punishment for a kick out at Juanfran and an off-the-ball incident with Filipe Luis.
