By Canadian Press on February 12, 2026.
MADRID (AP) — Barcelona couldn’t recover from an early goalkeeping blunder in a disastrous first half as it lost 4-0 at Atletico Madrid in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals on Thursday.
Barcelona gave Atletico an unexpected early present when goalkeeper Joan García let the ball slip underneath his foot after defender Eric Garcia’s back pass, and Atletico went on to lead the Catalan club 4-0 at halftime.
As well as Eric Garcia’s own-goal, Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julián Alvarez also scored for the hosts against Hansi Flick’s shocked team.
To make it worse for defending champion Barcelona, Eric García was sent off in the 85th with a straight red card for stopping a breakaway.
“The first half was tough for us,” Eric García said. “Obviously, the first goal was an incredible misfortune. After that, they came out more focused, with more attitude. Against a rival like Atlético, it’s difficult with this advantage. We have one game left at home, with our fans and with players we’ll have back. If we’re focused from the start, we can turn this around.”
Barcelona, the Spanish league leader, had a goal by Pau Cubarsí disallowed early in the second half because of offside. The Spanish soccer federation later said the automatic technology to detect offsides didn’t work properly and the video review crew had to draw the offside lines manually.
The result moves Atletico close to returning to the Copa final for the first time since it won the competition in 2012-13 for the 10th time.
“Our fans need these kinds of matches,” Atletico coach Diego Simeone said. “They’ve been supporting us for years, always there for us. They need important games. We had a very good first half, interpreting the game very well. We were very clinical and composed in the final stages of the game.”
Barcelona, the record 32-time Copa champion, won last year’s final by beating Real Madrid.
In the other semifinal on Wednesday, Real Sociedad won 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao.
The second legs will be played in March. The final will be in Seville in April.
Start of the rout
The rout started when Joan García tried to control Eric Garcia’s harmless-looking pass but the ball went underneath his foot outside the six-yard box.
García ran and dived to try to keep the ball from crossing the line, but didn’t make it back in time. He swatted the ball back into play — and Lookman then sent it into the net — but the ball had earlier crossed the line.
The blunder came seven minutes into the game at the Metropolitano stadium.
Griezmann gave Atletico a 2-0 lead by scoring from inside the area in the 14th, Lookman added a third in the 33rd in a well-constructed breakaway, and Alvarez got a fourth goal with a firm strike after another breakaway in first-half stoppage time.
With his team losing 3-0, Flick replaced midfielder Marc Casadó with striker Robert Lewandowski in the 37th.
Atletico had chances to add to the rout in the second half.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Tales Azzoni, The Associated Press
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