Julian Alvarez’s brilliance inspired Atletico Madrid to a huge 2-0 first-leg win at 10-man Barcelona to take control of their Champions League quarter-final.
Two moments of the highest quality from Alvarez turned the game in Atletico’s favour before half-time and set Diego Simeone on the way to his first win at Spotify Camp Nou as Barcelona’s 14-game winning streak at the revamped stadium came to an end.
Alvarez’s free-kick 25 yards out found the top corner immediately after Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsi was sent off following a VAR review for a last-man challenge on Guiliano Simeone in a huge momentum swing.
The former Manchester City forward’s lobbed through ball cut the Barcelona defence open, leading Cubarsi to clip the back leg of the Atletico head coach’s son who would have otherwise been in on goal.
Alvarez’s free-kick unlocked the game for Atletico and came against the run of play
Substitute Alexander Sorloth, the former Crystal Palace striker, doubled Atletico’s advantage with 20 minutes to go to put Simeone’s side in a commanding position to reach the Champions League semi-final, where they would meet either Arsenal or Sporting.
Barca were furious Atletico substitute Marc Pubill, already on a booking, was spared any punishment for picking up the ball in his own area when goalkeeper Juan Musso rolled it to him at a goal-kick.
In an identical scenario, Aston Villa’s Tyrone Mings was sent off at Club Brugge in 2024.
Barcelona’s Marcus Rashford drives at the Atletico Madrid defence
Marcus Rashford, standing in for Barcelona’s injured forward Raphinha from the start, had chances when his side were trailing by a goal but hit the bar and wasted a wonderful through ball from Lamine Yamal.
The on-loan Manchester United forward finished with seven shots, two more than Atletico’s entire team, on a night when he threatened to shine but ultimately fell short in his task of stepping up in Raphinha’s absence.
Barcelona can take confidence from the fact they came close to overturning a 4-0 first-leg deficit against Atletico in the Copa del Rey in February, losing 4-3 on aggregate over two legs.
Opta stats: Simeone ends long wait for Camp Nou win
- Atletico Madrid have won against Barcelona at Camp Nou for the first time since February 2006, ending a run of 25 visits to the stadium without victory (D8 L17).
- Barcelona have been eliminated from each of their three previous two-legged knockout ties in the Champions League when losing the first leg at home – they have lost three of their last eight home matches in the knockout phase (W4 D1), after only losing four of their first 45 (W31 D10).
- Atletico Madrid have won away from home in a Champions League knockout stage match for the first time in seven attempts (D1 L5), with this their first win since beating Manchester United 1-0 in the 2021-22 round of 16.
- Hansi Flick has seen one of his teams fail to score in a Champions League knockout stage game for the first time (18th match), while Barcelona have failed to score in a home match in any competition for the first time in 40 matches, since a 1-0 league defeat to Leganes in December 2024.
- Julian Alvarez scored his ninth Champions League goal of the season, the outright most by an Atletico Madrid player in a single campaign, bettering Diego Costa’s eight in 2013-14.
