Suarez, Messi hand Barca Cup lead over Atletico

MADRID: Wonder goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi left Barcelona with a 2-1 Copa del Rey semi-final, first leg advantage over Atletico Madrid to take back to the Camp Nou next week.

Suarez’s solo effort and a thunderous strike from Messi gave Barca a deserved commanding lead at half-time.

Yet, Atletico roared back after the break as Antoine Griezmann halved the arrears and the hosts went close to an equaliser as they piled on the pressure in the final stages.

However, Diego Simeone’s men were left to rue their slow start with Barca now favourites to make a fourth straight Cup final ahead of the second leg on February 7.

It took just seven minutes for Suarez to open the scoring with his seventh goal in nine appearances against Atletico.

The Uruguayan ran half the length of the field, leaving Diego Godin and Stefan Savic in his wake, before slotting the ball home with the outside of his foot into the far corner.

Suarez should have had a second when he was played in by Neymar, but, inside of going for goal, he tried to return the ball to the Brazilian who couldn’t control.

Messi was the source of most of Barca’s best moves and sealed a scintillating first-half performance with a stunning finish for the second 12 minutes before half-time when he blasted home off the inside of the post from outside the box.

Atletico had offered precious little other than one effort from Koke that dipped onto the roof of the net before the break.

However, the hosts were a team transformed after the break with Fernando Torres introduced alongside Griezmann up front.

Atletico were back in the tie just before the hour mark when a free-kick to the back post found Godin and his header across goal was turned home by Griezmann.

The French international had a glorious chance to then level moments later when he was picked out perfectly by Filipe Luis’s low cross.

However, Griezmann’s effort was straight at Jasper Cillessen, who saved from point blank range.

Barca could have put the tie to bed with a third away goal as a Messi free-kick was brilliantly turned onto the bar by Miguel Angel Moya.