Atletico Madrid beat Barcelona to set up Spanish Super Cup final clash with rivals Real Madrid
Barcelona 2-3 Atletico Madrid: Late goals helped Diego Simeone's side come from behind to book a place in Sunday's final
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Atletico Madrid pulled off a stunning turnaround to beat Barcelona 3-2 in an enthralling Spanish Super Cup tie in Saudi Arabia and book their place in the final of the revamped competition where they will face Real Madrid.
Argentine forward Angel Correa struck the decisive goal in the 86th minute to complete an unlikely late comeback for Atletico after Barca had dominated the second half and had two goals ruled out following VAR reviews.
Substitute Koke had put Atletico in front at the start of the second half but Lionel Messi levelled in the 51st minute. Messi soon put the ball in the net again but his second effort was ruled out for handball following a VAR review.
Former Atletico striker Griezmann did put Barca in front in the 65th while Gerard Pique thought he had extended their lead moments later but that goal was also ruled out after a VAR review, this time for a fractional offside against Arturo Vidal.
Atleti had spent most of the second half trying to stop waves of Barca attacks but got a lifeline when substitute Vitolo was tripped by goalkeeper Neto and striker Alvaro Morata equalised from the penalty spot in the 81st minute. Stand-in keeper Neto was also at fault for the winning goal, failing to properly block Correa's shot which bounced into the net to cap an incredible match. (Reuters)
Re-live the action in the blog below:
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
66: Messi is pulling all kinds of strings out there as he plays the ball to Suarez, who's first-time shot is well-saved.
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
67: Vitolo is on for the left-back Lodi. That's a very attacking move from Simeone.
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
69: Vidal is on the deck receiving treatment after Saul leaves his his mark, literally, on the midfielder. There's also a VAR check for a Barcelona penalty, nobody seems to quite know what that is for, but we're back underway.
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
71: That's not a bad ball into the middle from Morata, but nobody in a red and white shirt is up with him in attack to do anything about it.
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
72: Sub-sub! Koke has just come back from an injury and is forced off here. He'll be replaced by Marcos Llorente, who has been booked about 30 seconds into his appearance here for a foul on Messi.
Barcelona 3-1 Atletico Madrid
73: Is this Messi range? It's 40 yards out and he'll cross instead....
Pique scores!
Messi clips the ball towards Vidal, who heads the pass across the face of goal into the path of Pique and he shins it into the net from a yard or two out.
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
Nope. Offside.
Vidal is offside by the barest of margins from the initial free kick pass. That's very close.
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
76: Remember when you could celebrate scoring a goal without the fear of being a fingernail offside? Good times.
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
77: Vidal becomes the seventh player to receive a yellow card for a foul that stops a counter attack.
Barcelona 2-1 Atletico Madrid
77: WOW! How have Atletico Madrid not scored!
Correra is played through and has all the time in the world to beat Neto but gets caught in two minds and has a shot saved.
Ah... the offside flag is up to spare him some blushes.
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