King’s Cup: Barca take edge over Atletico after late drama

TIL Desk Sports/ Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi scored stunning goals to edge Barcelona towards a fourth consecutive King’s Cup final with a 2-1 win at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, although the holders were lucky to survive a late onslaught from the hosts.

Suarez opened the scoring with a breath-taking individual goal in the seventh minute, carving Atletico open with a thrusting run from the halfway line and producing a crisp low finish before Messi smashed in off the post from outside the area in the 33rd.

Atletico vastly improved in the second half and after Antoine Griezmann’s header reduced the deficit in the 59th minute they laid siege to the Barca area, but the equaliser remained elusive.

The return leg at the Nou Camp takes place next Tuesday although neither Barca forward Neymar nor Atletico captain Gabi will be able to play through suspension after picking up bookings. “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,” Barca coach Luis Enrique told.