Barcelona and Atletico Madrid share eight-goal Copa del Rey thriller

In the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, the teams both came back from two goals down to draw 4-4 in frantic fashion at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Catalonia, Spain.

After scoring four unanswered goals in the opening six minutes, Atletico scored twice in the first six minutes, scoring again in the final ten minutes, including Alexander Sorloth’s equalizer three minutes into stoppage time on Tuesday.

The hosts tied the game by the 21st minute thanks to goals from Pedri and Pau Cubarsi two minutes apart, but Atletico had a late lead thanks to goals from Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann in the first and sixth minutes.

Igo Martnez scored in the 41st minute to give the Catalans a 3-2 lead into halftime. In the 74th, Robert Lewandowski increased the lead.

Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez opened the scoring on the night]Albert Gea/Reuters]

In the 84th, Atletico and Marcos Llorente got closer, and Sorloth scored from close range.

The second leg will be at Atletico’s Metropolitano Stadium in April.

Real Madrid or Real Sociedad, which will play their first-leg game on Wednesday in Basque Country, will face the winner.

Barcelona last won the competition in 2021, and Atletico did it in 2013.

When the two teams last met in December, Atletico had lost to Barcelona 2-1 in the Spanish league.

Until the semifinal stage, the Copa’s knockout rounds were played in single-elimination games.