Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 in the first-leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final at the Vicente Calderon on Wednesday. Luis Suarez opened the scoring in the 7th minute when he ran from the half-way line past Diego Godin and around Stefan Savic before nudging the ball past Miguel Moya. Leo Messi made it 2-0 on 33 minutes when he received a pass from Ivan Rakitic and scored from the edge of the area with a shot which went in off the post. Antoine Griezmann pulled one back for Atletico on 59 minutes heading in after Godin had headed across the face of the penalty area. Suarez had been fouled in the build-up when Koke stopped him tracking Godin, but the goal stood and Atletico were back in the game. Atletico substitutes Kevin Gameiro and Fernando Torres both had chances to equalize but Barcelona held out for a first-leg win. They will be without Neymar in next Tuesday's second leg after he picked up a yellow card and Atletico will go to the Camp Nou still believing they can reach the cup final. "It seemed that the game was lost in the first half but we turned it around," said Torres. "It is a difficult situation but we have overcome similar situations before." "I don't know if we have a 30 per cent chance or a 20 per cent chance of going through but whatever chance we have we will give it everything in the second leg," his coach Diego Simeone added. "Atletico make you suffer but we are happy with the great first half that we played," Barcelona forward Suarez said. "It's not over; we know the job is not done and we have to be at our best at the Camp Nou." Luis Enrique added: "I'm satisfied with the result. It could have been better; but it could have been worse. With the goal they scored they are back in the tie." Atletico's Juanfran agreed: "The tie is still open. We deserved a second goal but we are happy. Other teams would have given up; we never do." The other semi-final first leg between Alaves and Celta Vigo will be played in Vigo on Thursday. - (MATCH OF THE DAY)
