Goal and a red card for Luis Suarez as Barcelona reach Copa del Rey final

Barcelona's Luis Suarez celebrates after scoring against Atletico Madrid in the Copa del Rey semi-final second leg at the Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain, on February 7, 2017. Manu Fernandez / AP

Barcelona 1 Atletico Madrid 1.

Barca win 3-2 on aggregate

Barcelona are through to a fourth successive Copa del Rey final despite having both Sergio Roberto and Luis Suarez sent off.

The pair were both dismissed for second yellow cards, with Atletico Madrid’s Yannick Carrasco also seeing red in a stormy clash at Camp Nou that ended in a 1-1 draw, enough for the defending champions to progress through 3-2 on aggregate.

One of the most impressive aspects of Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid is their desire to start games against Barcelona at Camp Nou on the front foot.

Where others approach with trepidation and caution, with an acceptance that they will be fortunate to get 30 per cent of possession, Atletico again threw caution to the damp Catalan air in the semi-final second leg. They had to.

Losing 2-1 from a first leg where Barca had dominated the first half and Atletico the second, the Madrid side needed to win at Camp Nou, something they have not managed since 2006 when Fernando Torres, 20, was their emerging striker.

History did not weigh on them too heavily in the opening minutes at the ground where they won the league on the final day of the 2013/14 season — at the expense of Barca. Six minutes in, Atletico broke and Yannick Carrasco had a shot saved, much to the frustration of Simeone.

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Two minutes later, Antoine Griezmann headed a free-kick towards Stefan Savic who produced another save from Barca’s cup goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen.

The pressing, high defensive line, breaks and raids continued. Koke shot from distance after 15 minutes, Diego Godin headed on target a minute later and another defender, Felipe Luis also tried a shot from far out 19 minutes, while Torres and Griezmann continued to be a threat to the Barca backline.

Not for the first time, it was Messi who changed the game. Three minutes before half time, Andre Gomes turned and played the ball forward to where Messi and Suarez were moving towards the Atletico goal.

Suarez nudged the ball to Messi and then ran ahead of him. Messi avoided the attention of four Atletico defenders and still managed to get in a shot from outside the area.

Moya pushed the ball into the path of Suarez, the Uruguayan waiting to pounce on the edge of the box and tap in the rebound for his 107th goal in only 127 Barca games.

It was now 3-1 on aggregate and Atletico still needing to score twice to stay in the game.

Their hopes were raised when Barca’s Sergi Roberto was sent off on his 25th birthday for a second yellow card after a foul on Felipe Luis in the 58th minute. Coach Luis Enrique did not look impressed with Roberto, who will now miss the final.

Griezmann thought he had scored almost immediately afterwards but his effort was ruled offside.

As the atmosphere grew louder, it became 10 against 10 on the field as Carrasco was sent off with 21 minutes to go for a second yellow when he slid into Arda Turan.

Messi hit a free kick against the bar after 71 minutes before Atletico were awarded a penalty three minutes later when Pique was adjudged to have fouled substitute Kevin Gameiro.

Gameiro stepped up and hit the ball over the bar. Simeone roared encouragement and his faith was vindicated eight minutes from time as Griezmann squared for Gamiero to equalise.

The stadium was the quietest it has been all night, but the roar returned as Suarez put the ball in the goal with six minutes to go — only for it to be disallowed for offside. Suarez was then dismissed with a minute left on the card following a second yellow card in two minutes, the second after clashing with Koke. It was his first red card in Barcelona colours.

“I was laughing at the yellow card, it was what he wanted [the referee], we will see if the club can appeal,” Suarez said. If it is not successful he will miss the final.

Barca were down to nine men but held out to reach their fourth successive final, their sixth in eight years, having won four of them.

They will find out who they will meet for the May 29 final on Wednesday night when Alaves and Celta Vigo meet in Vitoria.

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