Barcelona suffered a 2-0 defeat at home in the first leg and entered the second leg needing a three-goal victory to advance to the semifinals. Although they managed to score twice against Atletico Madrid to level the aggregate score, the Catalan side fell short in the end. A goal conceded meant they were knocked out of the semifinal race. Despite Barcelona winning the fiercely contested return leg 2-1, Diego Simeone’s side progressed to the next stage with a 3-2 aggregate lead.

The match, however, began with a different narrative. Barcelona wiped out the two-goal deficit from the first leg within the opening half-hour. At the Metropolitano Stadium on Tuesday night, goals from Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres put Barcelona 2-0 ahead, bringing the aggregate score to a level. However, Ademola Lookman pulled one back for Atletico before the end of the first half, restoring their overall lead. The scoring ended there. Later, defender Eric Garcia received a red card, forcing Barcelona to play the final 19 minutes—including stoppage time—with ten men. Despite their relentless attempts to score until the final whistle, Atletico Madrid maintained a resilient defense.

In the fourth minute, Torres collected a loose ball from Atletico’s Clement Lenglet and played a pass into the box. Lamine Yamal timed his run to beat the offside trap, broke into the area, and slotted a low shot through the goalkeeper’s legs. In the 24th minute, Barca doubled their lead and drew level on aggregate when Torres controlled a pass from Olmo inside the box, moved forward, and found the net with a clinical left-footed strike.

However, in the 31st minute, Atletico reduced the margin and moved ahead 3-2 on aggregate. An unmarked Lookman easily tapped home a pass received from Marcos Llorente from the right wing.