COMMENT: Gabi and Mario Suarez were sent off, while Arda Turan faces a ban for throwing a boot at the assistant referee in what was anything but a magnanimous loss
By Ben Hayward | Spanish Football Writer
The moment summed up the evening's events. Atletico Madrid's recent signing Cani clipped Lionel Messi's legs with a cynical foul and the Vicente Calderon crowd called for more: "Otra, otra, otra!"
Atletico were playing with nine men by that point in a crazy Copa clash. Gabi was sent off at half-time for furiously protesting some of the refereeing decisions, while Mario Suarez joined him after seeing a second booking for scything down Messi.
That was merely the tip of the iceberg. Earlier, Raul Garcia had been booked for a brutal foul on Jordi Alba and came close to a dismissal later on. And, in what was the worst offence of the lot, Arda Turan could be in big trouble after a bizarre incident in which he removed his boot and threw it at the assistant referee.
Turan missed the official. By that point, Atletico had missed the boat, losing their lead and their composure in a hectic spell at the Vicente Calderon.
Diego Simeone says his players should play "with a knife between the teeth". In this match, however, they ended up cutting themselves - and the punishment was bordering on self-harm.
Through it all, the coach himself was right behind his players, embracing Arda as he came off before shaking the hand of Mario Suarez as the latter left the pitch in disgrace.
The tie was long over by then, though. It had all seemed so different when Fernando Torres gave the home side a dream start with a great goal in the first minute - just as he had done against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu in the previous round.
But Neymar hit back after nine minutes and, even though Raul Garcia restored Atleti's lead from the spot following a dreadful decision as Javier Mascherano was penalised for a foul outside the box, an own goal from Joao Miranda levelled the scores and Neymar made it 3-2 on the night (and 4-2 on aggregate) when he capped off a move superbly started by Messi's shimmy and glorious pass to pick out the advancing Alba.
Moments earlier, however, Alba was fortunate not to concede a penalty after he handled Antoine Griezmann's drive and Barca subsequently scored at the other end. Tensions boiled at the break and Gabi was shown the red card for protesting to the referee.
"I only told the referee it was a penalty and a red card," the Atleti captain claimed afterwards. "And that he should have more personality." In more colourful language, presumably.
The second half was a much tighter affair, but Atleti's hopes were all but over with 10 men. Further indiscipline ensued as Turan evoked memories of the Iraqi man who tossed a shoe at George Bush, before Mario Suarez was sent off.
"You have to know how to win and you have to know how to lose," Sergio Busquets said of Atleti's antics after the game.
And Luis Enrique explained: "The match got ugly and I took off Neymar (who was targeted by Atleti's players) to stop things from heating up even more. Professionals need to be intelligent with their fellow pros.
" For his part, Simeone said: "In the second half we played with no aspirations. We played without risk and to stop them from scoring.
" And asked if his team could have come back with 11 players still on the pitch, he replied: "Yes. The game was over after the first half.
" For that, however, they had only themselves to blame. For so long, this Atleti team have been playing on the edge. On Wednesday, they pushed themselves over the precipice - and it was anything but a dignified defeat.
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