Five key mistakes that cost Barcelona a win against Atletico Madrid | OneFootball

FC Barcelona once again played a great game against Atletico Madrid in the semi-final of the Copa del Rey last night, but as was the case when these two sides met in La Liga back in December, Hansi Flick’s men were unable to translate their good performance into a win.

SPORT has highlighted five key mistakes that ended up costing the Blaugranes in this match, and kept them from taking an advantage in their hands ahead of their visit to the Metropolitano for the second leg of this tie in April.

The Catalans had already conceded 2 goals by the time the clock reached 7 minutes, which is unacceptable for a team that aspires to win all the big titles this season. The Barcelona defence was not up to the mark to defend Atleti’s attacks which resulted in the first two goals.

The Blaugranes improved as the match went by, and kept the visitors pinned into their own half for most part of the game. However, they again lost their intensity in the final phase of the game, allowing the Mattress Makers to score another two goals and force a draw.

The Azulgrana were able to generate a lot of chances in this game, but unfortunately, were not able to take full advantage of these chances. Ferran Torres missed two golden chances to add to his team’s tally, while Lewandowski also missed a golden chance only minutes after scoring his first goal.

Pedri also could have doubled his tally on the night, but was unable to reach a seducing cross, while Yamal saw one of his curling shots being saved by the goalkeeper.

The two fullbacks, Jules Kounde, and Alejandro Balde, were frequent threats in attack for Barcelona, but they often left the defense uncovered, which created problems for Inigo Martinez and Pau Cubarsi while drawing the offside line.

A ball lost by Kounde resulted in the second goal of the game, while he also slipped, allowing Atleti to break and score the final goal of the game. Similarly, Balde was also wrong-footed by Griezmann for the second goal of the night, although he was able to cover more ground with his speed.

Pedri was once again the best player for Barcelona in this game, but he was mostly left alone to handle the midfield as his colleagues usually went on to join the attack. This is true both for Dani Olmo and Frenkie de Jong, who did not provide a lot of support for the Canarian.

Hansi Flick decided to bring Eric Garcia on to bring more balance in his midfield, but his introduction was not enough.

The substitutions made by both the teams ultimately had a lot of influence on the final result of this game. Diego Simeone decided to bring on Angel Correa and Alexander Sorloth, which turned out to be key as his side got a draw.

On the other hand, Hansi Flick decided to sub the likes of Pedri and Raphinha out of the game, which left the team without two leaders. Similarly, the German also did not make all the five allowed substitutions, which could have brought more energy to his team in the final phases of the game.

Hopefully, Hansi Flick will be able to eliminate these weaknesses from his team ahead of the second leg of the tie in April.