FC Barcelona managed to rescue a draw against Atlético de Madrid (4-4) in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals, where they started losing 0-2 in the first 6 minutes, but managed to lead 4-2 with less than a quarter of an hour remaining. In the first half, Hansi Flick's side completed the comeback with a goal from Iñigo Martínez, his third of the season in 31 appearances (2,631 minutes) across all competitions.
In the 41st minute, the 33-year-old center-back took advantage of a corner delivered by Raphinha from the right to score again with a header. Pau Cubarsí, who had also scored 20 minutes earlier in the same manner (header from a corner by Rafa), drew the mark to free the Basque player, who appeared completely alone at the far post to fire past goalkeeper Musso. The experienced defender had already scored against Young Boys (5-0) and Red Star (2-5) in the Champions League, also through aerial play.
Iñigo Martínez, self-critical about Barça's draw
After the match, Iñigo analyzed on 'Movistar+' the keys to Atlético's draw in the final stretch. For the '5', unfortunately, the 'colchoneros' forwards took advantage of the "gifts" from a clearly superior Blaugrana side. "I think this match could have ended 6-2, but it ends 4-4 and the return leg will be difficult in such a challenging venue as theirs; if we do things as we know, we will succeed," began the Ondarroa native.
In that sense, he acknowledged the importance of maintaining concentration throughout the match, as the 'rojiblancos' took advantage of the team's drop in performance in the initial minutes and at the end. "Everything looked very nice, but it has been shown that this team needs to be concentrated for the entire match. They smelled blood at the end; they did the same to us in the league. Now it's time to rest and keep winning in the league, he pointed out.
Martínez, in addition to the goal, completed 85 of 90 passes (90%) and 6 of 9 long passes (67%), along with 4 clearances and 5 balls recovered. In one-on-one situations, he won 3 and only lost 1 duel during the 90 minutes. The defender regained his starting position over Ronald Araujo and Eric García. The Catalan came on for Pedri in the 85th minute, while the Uruguayan remained on the bench.