Diego Simeone brutally mocks Lamine Yamal as Atletico Madrid crush Barcelona in Copa del Rey first leg – while Catalans fume after EIGHT-minute VAR delay to disallow goal

Diego Simeone ridiculed Lamine Yamal as his Atletico Madrid side blitzed Barcelona 4-0 at home in their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg.

The crafty Argentinian held up three fingers at the 18-year-old after Ademola Lookman scored to make it 3-0, continuing his fine start for the capital side.

Indeed, Simeone enjoyed that one so much that he went running down the touchline to celebrate in a first half that saw Atletico blow away Barca with all four goals.

It is a pummelling that all but puts Atletico in the final, where they will face Real Sociedad or Athletic Bilbao unless Barcelona achieve a minor miracle at home next month. Atletico’s last trophy was the LaLiga title back in 2021. 

Barcelona’s frustrations were only worsened when their only ‘goal’ of the night, scrambled in by Pau Cubarsi, was confirmed as offside after an eight-minute VAR check.

The delay was caused by a failure in the semi-automatic offside technology due to the ‘high player density’ of the situation, meaning officials had to draw the lines manually. 

Atletico tore apart Barca 4-0 in Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final 

Barcelona had a goal controversially ruled out by VAR and a man sent off on a dire night

In any case, Atletico were good value for their win with goals from Antoine Griezmann, Lookman, and Julian Alvarez following an own goal from Eric Garcia.

Garcia’s night got worse after 85 minutes as he was sent off with a straight red card for a late, crunching tackle which wiped out Alex Baena. 

‘I think our people need these parties,’ Simeone said afterwards. 

‘It’s clear, we know the rival we’re going to face. We can’t give up. There’s a long way to go until the return leg but today we had a good joy for our people, who deserve it.’

Rival boss Hansi Flick, who has suffered his worst defeat since his amateur coaching days 21 years ago, said: ‘We didn’t play well. We have to go to the second game. It will be very difficult but we are going to fight it.

‘We talked at half-time about the different situations and that we should do better. We didn’t see the team I want to see in the first half.

‘I ask why it is offside. I don’t know what they have decided. We have to accept it but I don’t agree.’

Barcelona’s only consolation is that this loss came in the absence of many important players: Raphinha, Gavi, Pedri, Marcus Rashford, and Andreas Christensen. 

Hansi Flick suffered the worst defeat of his professional career but will get the chance to pull off a mirarcle in the second leg next month 

Atletico will take confidence from this for the rest of the season, particularly their Champions League campaign, after an up-and-down run of form.

They are 13 points behind Barcelona in the LaLiga title race and face Club Brugge in the Champions League play-offs this month.

In recent games they have thrashed Mallorca 3-0, Barcelona 4-0, and Real Betis 5-0, but they have also lost to Betis, been defeated by Bodo/Glimt, and drawn with Galatasaray and Levante. 

Lookman has made a flying start following his £30.3million move from Atalanta. 

The former Everton, Leicester, Fulham, and Watford attacker has scored two goals and provided two assists in three games since joining this month. 

Simeone recently said of the Nigerian: ‘Lookman is different from all the players we have, especially in one-on-one situations, but he also has associative play. 

‘His profile allows us to use him in different positions, and his impact on the team was very good.

‘He felt comfortable, and hopefully we can help him become an even better footballer, just as he can help us grow as a team.’