Barca edge nine-man Atletico in five-goal thriller

Barca edge nine-man Atletico in five-goal thriller Kieran Canning, AFP coach online outlet Jan. 28, 2015, 5:15 PM 57 facebook linkedin twitter email print Barcelona's Brazilian forward Neymar da Silva Santos Junior (L) scores the opener during the Spanish Copa del Rey quarter final second leg football match in Madrid on January 28, 2015 © AFP Dani Pozo Madrid (AFP) - Neymar bagged a double as Barcelona twice came from behind to book their place in the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey with a 3-2 win over nine-man Atletico Madrid to seal a 4-2 aggregate victory. Fernando Torres struck for the hosts inside the first minute to cancel out Lionel Messi's winner in last week's first leg, but Neymar grabbed a vital away goal just nine minutes later. Raul Garcia briefly restored Atletico's lead from the penalty spot, but Barca were in front by half-time thanks to a Miranda own goal and a wonderful counter-attack rounded off by Neymar. Atletico captain coach online outlet Gabi was then sent-off during half-time as players and coaches from both coachoutletonline sides clashed at the end of the first period. The home side should have been reduced to nine men earlier when Arda Turan somehow escaped with just a yellow card after coachoutlet.com throwing his boot at one of the officials in the second-half, but did eventually see another red card when Mario Suarez picked up a second booking late on. Torres scored twice in the first minute of each half of the second leg as Atletico dumped city rivals Real Madrid out of the competition in the previous round and he repeated the trick after just 38 seconds. The former Chelsea striker latched onto Guilherme Siqueira's clearance and skipped past Javier Mascherano before volleying in off the far post to register his first goal at the Vicente Calderon since rejoining his boyhood club. Barca responded in fine style to that early blow, though, as a slick move sparked by Messi saw Luis Suarez release Neymar in behind the Atletico defence and he coach outlet sale calmly slotted home for his 20th goal of the season. Antoine Griezmann missed a big chance to put Atletico back in front when he volleyed straight at Marc-Andre Ter Stegen after brilliant work down the left by Siqueira. However, moments later they did have a lifeline thanks to their other full-back as Juanfran was bodychecked by Mascherano and Jesus Gil Manzano pointed to the spot despite the contact appearing to take place outside the area. Garcia confidently stepped up to slam home the spot-kick. Atletico's lead again only lasted only eight minutes as Ivan Rakitic's goalbound effort was deflected inches wide and from the resultant corner, Miranda could only turn Messi's delivery into his own net. The game then turned definitively in Barca's favour when Manzano didn't award a second penalty when Griezmann's shot hit Jordi Alba on the arm.  Barca then broke upfield and Alba squared for Neymar to dance round Jan Oblak before rolling home his second goal of the evening. Tempers flared when Manzano brought an exhilarating first-half to coach outlet sale an end with Gabi failing to return for the second period having been sent-off in the tunnel. Diego Simeone's men were extremely fortunate to not then go down to nine men when Turan incredibly threw his boot at an assistant referee for failing to award the hosts a free-kick. The Turkish international was shown a yellow card by Manzano, which should also mean he will escape retrospective punishment as the incident was seen by the referee. Barca comfortably saw out the remaining 40 minutes by dominating possession and should have added to their tally when Messi shot straight at Oblak 20 minutes from time. Suarez was then dismissed four minutes from the end when Messi was upended for the umpteenth time as Atletico continued to lose their discipline.  Next up for Barcelona will be a semi-final meeting with Villarreal or Getafe, who play the second leg of their quarter-final on Thursday. More from AFP:US alarm as Turkey warns Syrian Kurd militia of more strikesUber suspends services in Abu DhabiTapeworm drug stops Zika from replicating in lab: studyEx-Dodgers owner McCourt set for Marseille takeoverDriverless taxi firm eyes operations in 10 cities by 2020 More: AFP