Alexander Sorloth’s late leveller was the final word in a thrilling match as Atletico Madrid secured a dramatic 4-4 draw with Barcelona on Tuesday.
Momentum swung back and forth in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final, with former Manchester City attacker Julian Alvarez stunning the hosts after just 50 seconds and ex-Barcelona man Antoine Griezmann adding a second soon after.
The hosts recovered from their sluggish start with a Pedri finish and a Pau Cubarsi header drawing them level with 19 minutes on the clock.
Another first-half header from Inigo Martinez and a second-half finish from Robert Lewandowski appeared to have set Hansi Flick’s team on the way to a win before Atletico Madrid mounted a comeback of their own.
Marcos Llorente got a third for Diego Simeone’s side late on before substitute Sorloth clinched a dramatic draw in the third minute of added time to leave the tie in the balance.
Pitting La Liga’s top scorers against the league’s most resilient defence was always going to produce a tense game, but this one lived up to the hype – and then some.
After Alvarez converted at the back post and Griezmann finished past Wojciech Szczesny to make it 2-0 in just six minutes, Barcelona looked shell-shocked.
Flick’s team regrouped and began to dominate, capitalising on their pressure through Pedri, who slotted Jules Kounde’s pullback beyond Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
Raphinha’s corner just two minutes later was headed in by Cubarsi to level things up before Martinez completed the first-half turnaround.
Barcelona moved further ahead when their top-scorer Lewandowski came off the bench to score, finishing after Yamal’s dazzling run down the right.
The early lead Diego Simeone’s side held had been unravelled but Llorente finished past Szczesny to set up a tense finish in which the visitors were back on top.
Deep in injury time, Samuel Lino broke in behind and worked the ball across to Sorloth, who made no mistake to clinch a late leveller for the visitors and set up an intriguing second leg in April.
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