Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone upbeat despite Copa del Rey defeat to Barcelona
Thursday 2 February 2017 08:10, UK
Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone believes his side still have a real chance of advancing to the final of the Copa del Rey despite suffering defeat to Barcelona in their semi-final first-leg at the Vicente Calderon.
Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi scored stunning goals to hand the visitors an early lead on Wednesday night before Antoine Griezmann reduced the deficit with a well-taken header shortly before the hour mark.
Atleti pushed hard for an equaliser in the closing stages of the game but Barcelona survived the late onslaught to claim a vital first-leg lead, ahead of the return fixture at the Nou Camp on February 7.
Simeone was pleased with the second-half performance of his side and believes they can overturn the first-leg deficit it they reproduce on Tuesday night.
"In the second half, we were much closer to how we wanted to be," Simeone said.
"I'm very happy with the image we showed in the second half, with our intensity and attitude. We leave here with the sensation that if we play like that in the second leg, we can still go through."
Suarez opened the scoring at the Vicente Calderon with a superb individual effort - beating two players in a run from the halfway line before calmly finishing past Miguel Angel Moya.
Messi doubled the away side's advantage with a rasping drive from outside the area that struck the post on its way in.
Griezmann pulled one back with a close-range header as Atletico threatened to find an equaliser in the closing stages.
However, it was Barcelona who came closest to scoring again when Messi struck the bar with a speculative free-kick.
Barca boss Luis Enrique hailed the win as a "huge result" for his side as they look to reach their fourth consecutive Copa del Rey final.
"It would be absurd to think you can come to the Calderon and not suffer. We did everything to try and survive their waves of pressure and for now we can enjoy the result," Enrique said.
"You could say we should have been more effective in the second half and finished the tie off, but that's just theory, the reality is they had a lot more chances than us.
"There's things I need to improve but it's a huge result for us."
