Barcelona manager Luis Enrique has lavished praise on his team for their performance in yesterday’s Spanish Cup win over Atletico Madrid.
The Catalan giants travelled to the Vicente Calderon to take on Diego Simeone’s men in the second leg of their Spanish Cup quarter-final tie. Enrique’s side started in a position of advantage having won the first leg 1-0 courtesy of a solitary Lionel Messi strike at the Camp Nou.
The match got off to a lively start as Fernando Torres put Atletico Madrid ahead in the first minute of the match, Barcelona brought the scores level in the ninth minute with a Neymar strike. A 30th-minute spot kick by Raul Garcia put the hosts ahead, but a Miranda own goal shortly followed by Neymar’s second strike of the night sealed the match 3-2 in the Catalans’ favour.
Atletico Madrid had their captain Gabi sent off at half-time and their task of overhauling Barcelona’s lead was further compounded by the dismissal of Mario Suarez in the 84th minute.
The win sees Barcelona advance to the semi-final of the Spanish Cup. In his post-match comments, Enrique appeared pleased with his team’s performance.
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"I liked everything about my team's performance, even how they reacted to strange events at the beginning of the game and going 1-0 down”, he was quoted by Marca as saying.
The win is Barcelona’s seventh in a row during which they have scored 26 goals and conceded just three. Enrique acknowledged the good run of form and urged his team to continue in the same vein.
"We're on a very good run of form, we're brimming with confidence and results are going our way, but that could change in a heartbeat. That's football, full of surprises.”
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