The worst Barça of the Flick era is practically eliminated from the Cup

MadridBarça suffered a fatal blow in the Copa del Rey after falling 4-0 at Atlético Madrid in the first leg of the semi-finals. The result was as decisive as it was brutal for a team that lacked resources in both attack and defense. The home side, with a very physical and experienced style of play, sealed the match and the tie with four goals in the first half of a game in which, incredibly, the final scoreline even flattered a rival that, with no chance in La Liga and doubts in Europe, clung to the Copa del Rey as its only real hope.

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong at the Metropolitano. It was as if Barça hadn't even shown up for the match. Atlético Madrid did whatever they wanted with the ball, dominating every aspect of the game. Their man-to-man pressing nullified the Blaugrana, who were unable to string together more than three consecutive passes. Without controlling the ball, the high defensive line led to easy counter-attacks where the home side arrived with two, three, or four men to finish. The offside line was nonexistent, as was defensive support.

Atlético de Madrid showed in the first minute what they were willing to play, with a stamp by Giuliano on Balde that the referee only called a foul. Then came a second stamp, this time by Griezmann. And more hard tackles. Martínez Munuera set the bar so high that Atlético felt very comfortable with an extremely physical game in individual duels. Barça couldn't counter it in any way. The only solution was to get rid of the ball quickly. But for that, you need a tidy team and precision in your passing. Needless to say, that was also lacking on a dreadful night.

A monumental blunder by Joan Garcia to open the scoring

After an initial warning and a fine save from Joan, the home side took the lead with a blunder for the ages. A back pass from Eric slipped under the goalkeeper's boot and continued its trajectory across the goal line. The Metropolitano erupted as Atlético, true to Simeone's style, sat back and ceded the initiative to Barça. But, unlike on other occasions, Barça's attack was nonexistent, apart from a shot from Fermín that hit the crossbar and a shot from Eric that went well wide.

Flick's gamble on the midfielders didn't pay off. Without a true winger, due to injuries to Raphinha and Rashford, the manager positioned Olmo on the left flank, with Casadó as the holding midfielder and Frenkie and Fermín further forward. The right side of the attack was occupied by Lamine Yamal, who lacked both the spark and magic of his earlier performances. Without his inspiration, and with a very well-organized home defense, Barça's ability to score goals diminished considerably. But they also made glaring errors in their passing between teammates and were very slow in moving the ball from one side to the other. The defense always had time to clean things up.

Quite the opposite of Barça's, which was exposed in transitions. As in the second goal, which came after a Barça corner: a long ball into space, three touches, and a pass to the free man, who was Griezmann, and who finished with a low, driven shot across goal. The third, more or less the same, was scored by Lookman, who finished with ease because Casadó's support came too late. The goal sealed the fate of the Barça pivot, whom Flick substituted immediately afterward. Casadó's face as he left the pitch was a picture, timidly consulted by a coach who tried to justify the substitution. But he wasn't the problem, as demonstrated by his fourth goal, in another counter-attack finished off by Julián Álvarez just before halftime.

VAR breaks Barça's timid comeback

Overcoming a four-goal deficit was an impossible task: Barça knew it, and so did Atlético. The second half wasn't about a comeback, but about finding a goal that would give the Blaugrana hope for the return leg. With Lewandowski up front, Ferran on the left, and Olmo and Fermín in midfield, things improved somewhat. And the goal, in essence, came five minutes after the restart, but VAR disallowed Cubarsí's goal for a marginal offside by Lewandowski after spending four minutes reviewing it. All the momentum the Blaugrana had built up suddenly vanished.

The Barça players ended up feeling powerless and frustrated, blaming a referee who didn't see a penalty when Lamine Yamal went down or award a red card for Giuliano's studs-up challenge on Balde's leg. VAR didn't intervene in any of these incidents, but it did intervene in a foul by Eric, who, being the last man, was upgraded from a yellow to a red card thanks to video review. But the problems weren't just refereeing-related, because except for the opening minutes after the restart, Barça couldn't find a way to break down the home side's defense. On the contrary, Atlético almost made things worse. Returning to the Camp Nou, they'll need more than a miracle to reach the final.