Atletico Madrid narrowly held on to its first-leg advantage, advancing to its first Copa del Rey final in 13 years despite a 3-0 loss to Barcelona in the second leg. The Spanish club advanced 4-3 on aggregate thanks to a 4-0 win in the first leg last month in Madrid.
Match Summary
Barcelona came out strong at home, scoring with Marc Bernal in the 29th minute. Raphinha converted a penalty kick in first-half stoppage time. Bernal added the third goal in the 72nd minute, leaving the hosts one goal shy from evening the aggregate score.
"We knew it was going to be a tough match, it's not easy to overcome a 4-0 deficit," Raphinha said. "But I'm proud of the team. We gave everything we had from the start. We leave disappointed because we wanted to be in the final, and I think we deserved it after the game that we played."
"Maybe it wasn't our best match, but it was a game of 180 minutes," Atletico goalkeeper Juan Musso said. "They had everything going their way but we suffered when we had to suffer. We knew it wasn't going to be easy, but in the end we made it to the final."
Injury Concerns for Barcelona
Barcelona lost defender Jules Koundé to an injury just 13 minutes into the match. He was replaced by Alejandro Balde, who in the second half also asked to be substituted. Forward Robert Lewandowski missed the match due to injury.
Final Showdown
Diego Simeone's team will play in the final for the first time since winning its 10th Copa trophy in the 2012-13 season. The final will be held in April in Seville.
The second leg of the other semifinal between Real Sociedad and Basque Country rival Athletic Bilbao will take place on Wednesday. Sociedad won 1-0 at Athletic in the first leg.
Barcelona was looking to repeat as Copa champion after defeating Real Madrid in last year's final. The club is currently the Spanish league leader, holding a four-point advantage over second-place Real Madrid. Atletico sits in third place, 13 points behind Barcelona.
Both Barcelona and Atletico are in the round of 16 of the Champions League.