“We are Atlético de Madrid. We are destined to suffer.”
Diego Simeone knew the score, literally and figuratively.
Of course, a 4-0 lead from the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal tie against holders FC Barcelona had Atlético dreaming of a first Copa del Rey final since 2013. It was an unusual situation for Simeone’s Atleti to be in. Three times they had knocked Barcelona out of cup competitions; never had they built such a robust advantage.
But that unexpectedly wide margin meant that Barça
were going to throw everything they could at Atleti in the second leg at a partially-reopened Spotify Camp Nou. Simeone found himself ruing missed opportunities from the first leg that could have pushed the aggregate advantage in this tie to five or even six goals. A four-goal lead wasn’t safe against this lot.
“You might say ‘how can you be angry with a 4-0 win?’” Simeone said Tuesday night. “But I know what these Barcelona players are capable of. They play brilliantly.”
Barça were brilliant on Tuesday night, but it wasn’t enough to complete the remuntada they had spent weeks discussing. Atlético endured and survived a match that Koke called “the happiest defeat” of his career.
“If it looked from the outside like Atleti were suffering, from inside it was even worse,” Álex Baena later told reporters.
The true test of any Atleti side with silverware under Simeone is how it has been able to suffer in and see out decisive matches.
Based on Tuesday’s game, we might have our answer.
On Tuesday night, Atlético had 29 percent of the ball and completed 212 passes to Barcelona’s 616; over the two legs, Atleti averaged 31.5 percent possession. They mustered seven shots (two on target) to Barça’s 21 (nine on target) in the second leg.
While the expected goals (3.09-0.68) tally says the result is fair, Atleti defended the box fairly well in open play. There were unforced errors, though; Koke’s ball loss from a throw-in saw Ferrán Torres surge forward to force a save out of Juan Musso and win Barcelona’s fourth corner in the opening 29 minutes.
And from that corner, Lamine Yamal carried, dribbled past Ademola Lookman assisted an unmarked Marc Bernal for a tap-in on 28:57.
Atlético’s best period of the game was in first-half stoppage time, and they nearly equalized when Lookman flashed what would have been a tie-ending header just wide of Joan García’s goal. Barça came right back up the pitch and Pedri won a penalty as he dribbled into the Atleti box; Marc Pubill opted to go to ground when referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea (a man who always looks harried and overworked) probably would have waved it away had Pubill stayed on his feet.
Raphinha smashed in the resultant penalty on 49:11 — and with it, any hopes Atleti realistically had of leveling the second leg at any point, let alone winning it to advance to the final in style.
“We planned to attack, but it didn’t happen or it happened very rarely,” Simeone said post-match. “The intensity was extremely high.”
No, this would have to be old-school Cholismo, all the way to full-time.
Simeone moved before the hour; Alexander Sørloth and Nahuel Molina replaced Koke and Lookman, the former relied upon as a transition outlet who could knock down and hold up the ball, maybe continuing his excellent goalscoring record against this opponent along the way.
Sørloth would help Atleti see out the game later, along with former Villarreal teammate Baena — a 69th-minute sub whose debut season at the club hasn’t gone according to plan but whose ability to salt away time in the dying minutes ended Barcelona’s comeback hopes for good.
But first, Bernal had to make it 3-0 on 71:36. From another Barcelona corner (they finished with 15), Yamal played the ball to João Cancelo, and the much-maligned full-back delivered a peach of a cross into the box. The 18-year-old Bernal got a touch to it after Daniel Jesús Trujillo deemed that Dávid Hancko played Bernal onside.
“Even if you go out to attack, they can still score four goals on you,” Cadena COPE’s Manolo Lama said Tuesday night. “Real Madrid won a Champions League against Liverpool (in 2022) by defending deep in their own box.”
When Josema Giménez was ushered on a few minutes later, the Atleti defense regained its composure. Giménez took eight touches in 20 minutes of play, including stoppage time; four of those were clearances. Barcelona attempted only four more shots for the game, totaling 0.09 xG. Their legs had gone — and around the 88th minute, it felt like the Rojiblancos had taken and withstood the Blaugrana’s best shot. If only just.
For Giménez — possibly playing out his final weeks at Atlético — he will get the chance to play for his first Copa del Rey since he joined the club 13 years ago. It will be Koke’s second appearance in the final, the captain’s own contract expiring at season’s end. Cholo Simeone, under contract for next year but facing a touch of uncertainty amid the club’s pending ownership change, will coach his second Copa del Rey final and 11th overall in 14 years.
But no one is certain as to whether Antoine Griezmann will be present at La Cartuja on April 18. Perhaps not even Griezmann himself, as he continues to pore over a proposed move to Major League Soccer’s Orlando City this month.
“I don’t know what will happen with Antoine,” Koke said. “He’s the one who has to decide his future, and hopefully it’s what’s best for him, for Atlético fans, and for the club. We all want him to stay with us.”
“Hopefully he plays in the final,” said Simeone. “He deserves it more than anyone. His quality and talent will stay with him for life.”
“I don’t know what will happen, we don’t even ask him,” Marcos Llorente said. “He’ll decide what’s best for him, and we’ll support him. All I can say is that he’s a great friend and a great teammate.”
“Whatever decision he makes will be the right one,” Griezmann’s fellow Copa del Rey hero Juan Musso said. “I will be grateful to him for the rest of my life for what he gave us.”
This Copa del Rey run belongs to Griezmann as much as it does anyone else. Though he won a Copa del Rey with Barcelona in 2021, Griezmann never has won the domestic title that his brilliant career at Atleti (albeit over two stints) has merited.
Griezmann scored in the first leg of this tie; of his 12 goals this season, he’s notched five in the cup, and he has scored in every round. It would be a shame for him to go now, even with the succulent designated player contract on offer from Orlando. It’s because arguably he has returned to being the team’s best player — “by miles.”
Managing Griezmann’s minutes early in the season is paying off now. Consider how Griezmann, who turns 35 on March 21, dug in for 17 defensive actions and a team-high nine ball recoveries at Camp Nou. He also created three chances and had one of Atleti’s two shots on target.
After his free kick guided Atleti past Deportivo La Coruña in the round of 16, Griezmann declared “we want to reach the Copa del Rey final.” No other player has done quite as much to get Atleti to the showpiece game. Would he really leave again before he can see it through?
As for as Atleti’s opponent in Seville, it could be Griezmann’s former club Real Sociedad, who head home to Reale Arena with a 1-0 aggregate lead over derby rivals Athletic Club. Atleti defeated La Real in a penalty shootout to win the 1987 Copa del Rey final in Zaragoza; two years earlier, the Rojiblancos had defeated a then-dominant Athletic side in the Santiago Bernabéu to win the 1985 edition.
Either way, the matchup will be historic. And after 95 excruciating minutes at Camp Nou, Atleti earned their opportunity to take part in it.
