Atletico stun Barca to claim last-four berth

MADRID - Reuters

Barcelona's midfielder Xavi Hernandez (R) congratulates Atletico Madrid's midfielder Raul Garcia (C) on winning the UEFA Champions League quarter final football match Club Atletico de Madrid vs FC Barcelona at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on April 9, 2014. AFP Photo

Atletico Madrid tamed Lionel Messi and Neymar to send La Liga rivals Barcelona crashing out of the Champions League after Koke's early goal secured a shock 2-1 aggregate success at the Calderon on Wednesday.
   
After last week's quarter-final, first leg in Barcelona ended 1-1, Atletico's stunning 1-0 victory at an electric Calderon stadium was the latest twist in a fairytale season for Madrid's second club and their inspirational coach and former player Diego Simeone.
  
Simeone's fired-up troops blew Barca away in the opening 20 minutes and after midfielder Koke volleyed in from close range in the fifth minute former Barca forward David Villa twice rattled the crossbar.
   
After surviving the early barrage, Barca showed more intensity and had their chances in the second half as the home side wilted.
   
But with Simeone willing them on from his technical area and whipping up the delirious fans in the stands, Atletico held out to deny Barca a record-extending seventh consecutive appearance in the last four and claim a berth in the last four of Europe's elite club competition for the first time in 40 years.
   
"The work of the team across both legs has been spectacular," Koke told Spanish TV broadcaster Canal Plus.
   
"We ran a huge amount, we played the two games in the way we wanted and I think we were the deserved winners," added the Spain international.
   
"With these fans behind us it is very hard for us to lose a match here."
   
Eliminating the Catalan giants, whose annual earnings of more than 500 million euros are almost five times those of their Madrid rivals, was an incredible achievement and they join neighbours Real Madrid, Chelsea and holders Bayern Munich in Friday's draw for the last four.
   
They can twist the knife deeper by holding on to their narrow lead over second-placed Barca in La Liga and preventing them securing them a fifth domestic league title in six years.
   
They are a point clear with six games left and closing in on a first la Liga triumph since a team featuring Simeone as a combative midfielder won the title in 1996.
   
Barca, whose talisman Lionel Messi barely featured on a stage where he has so often excelled, were left wondering how they failed to turn their second-half dominance into at least the one goal that would have taken the game to extra time.
   
"We had the game within our grasp," Barca midfielder Xavi told Canal Plus.
   
"We had four or five very clear chances that normally we would put away.
   
"They made the most of those first 15 to 20 minutes when they played with a lot of intensity and scored the goal.
   
"After that we stepped up to the challenge and deserved at least a draw.
   
"We played two good games and had our chances in both legs but it slipped through our fingers."
   
Barca rocked
   
Having already lost playmaker Arda Turan to a groin problem, there was more bad news for Atletico before kickoff when top scorer Diego Costa, who strained a thigh muscle in the first leg, failed to make the squad.
   
Barca seemed to be settling into their usual dominant rhythm in the opening minutes on a warm night in the Spanish capital but were rocked back when Costa's replacement Adrian burst clear in the fifth minute in a typical Atletico counter-attack.
   
His initial shot cannoned off the crossbar and when Villa clipped the ball back into the middle he nodded it across goal for Koke to volley in at the far post.
   
Atletico had the bit between their teeth and Barca suddenly went to pieces as Villa was twice allowed space in the area and twice saw his shots come back off the frame of the goal.
   
The game settled down after the frantic opening 20 minutes and Barca had a good chance to equalise when Messi, who had earlier headed narrowly wide, missed the target after brilliant work from Neymar on the left.
   
Barca, who had played Atletico four times this season with all four games ending in draws, began the second half strongly and immediately had Atletico on the back foot.
   
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois saved brilliantly at Neymar's feet in the 49th minute and Atletico somehow scrambled the ball away when it seemed easier for Xavi to score.
   
Xavi should have done better with a free header from a Daniel Alves cross on the hour, while five minutes later at the other end substitute Diego tested Jose Manuel Pinto with an angled strike.
   
Atletico captain Gabi had a chance to put the game beyond Barca when he raced clear in the 70th minute but Pinto was able to save his weak effort.
   
Neymar's diving header drifted just wide of the post 12 minutes from time before Pinto denied substitute Cristian Rodriguez in a one-on-one at the death.
   
The final whistle prompted the kind of wild celebrations rarely seen at Atletico's stadium next to the Manzanares river and the home players stayed on the pitch soaking up the applause of both sets of fans long after the end.
   
"There is a lot of joy at having got through a tie against a great opponent with a long history of success, above all in the last decade," a beaming Simeone told Canal Plus.
   
"We are calm in the knowledge that this is not over yet and now we need to recuperate for a tough game on Sunday" against Getafe in La Liga, he added.