MADRID (AP) – Atletico Madrid narrowly held on to its advantage in Tuesday’s Copa del Rey first leg against defending champion Barcelona, advancing to its first Copa del Rey final in 13 years despite losing 3-0 to the Catalan club.
Atlético won the first leg 4-0 in Madrid last month to move up 4-3 on aggregate.
Diego Simeone’s side will be playing in their first final since winning their 10th Copa Trophy in the 2012-13 season.
The second leg of the other semi-final between Real Sociedad and Basque rivals Athletic Bilbao will take place on Wednesday. Sociedad won 1-0 against Athletic last month.
The final will be held in Seville in April.
Barcelona were beaten badly in the first half and looked like they were in a hole. First leg last monthconceded all four goals before the break at the Metropolitano Stadium.
Barcelona continued their good form at home on Tuesday, with Marc Bernal scoring in the 29th minute and Rafinha converting a penalty in first-half stoppage time. Bernal added his third goal in the 72nd minute, putting the hosts one goal away from ending the series.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game. It’s not easy to overcome a 4-0 loss,” Rafinha said. “But I’m proud of the team. We gave our all from the beginning. We go home disappointed because we wanted to go to the final, but after the game we played, I think we deserved it.”
Barcelona continued to press, but Atlético’s solid defense held out.
Atlético goalkeeper Juan Musso said: “Maybe it wasn’t the best game, but it was a 180-minute game.” “They had everything going their way, but we suffered when we should have suffered. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but in the end we made it to the final.”
Barcelona lost defender Jules Kounde to injury 13 minutes into the match. He was replaced by Alejandro Balde, who also requested to be substituted in the second half. Forward Robert Lewandowski was absent due to injury.
Barcelona defeated Real Madrid in last year’s final and was aiming to repeat as Copa champions.
Barcelona is the leader of the Spanish league. They have a four-point difference with second-place Real Madrid. Atlético are in third place, 13 points behind Barcelona.
Barcelona and Atlético have both reached the round of 16 of the Champions League.
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