Barcelona vs. Atletico Madrid: Winners and Losers from Copa Del Rey Game

Barcelona grabbed a slender lead in their Copa del Rey quarter-final tie with Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, as Lionel Messi's late strike secured a 1-0 home win.

After seeing his initial penalty saved, Messi tapped home from close range five minutes from time to separate the two sides and ensure Luis Enrique's side will go into next week's second leg at the Vicente Calderon with a narrow advantage.

Diego Simeone's side set out to frustrate their opponents and nearly succeeded in that ambition, although Diego Godin's late yellow card for a poor foul on Messi means he will be suspended for the return leg—a potentially significant blow to Atletico's defensive efforts in that game.

Having secured a half-time advantage, Barcelona will be hopeful they can go on and complete the job. Click on for some winners and losers from the match.

Winner: Barcelona

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press

Barcelona were the winners of this match in a literal sense, of course, but also in less obvious ways. As their second win in less than two weeks over Atletico Madrid, this was an important psychological boost against an opponent they have recently had real trouble with. It was also a third straight win while fielding the same outfield 10—a practice that is probably not sustainable but does at least speak to a growing cohesion and clarity of purpose under Luis Enrique.

The club have now won their last five games in all competitions, scoring 17 goals and conceding just one. This is a real turnaround, especially considering the fallout in the press following the defeat to Real Sociedad.

The performance was not quite as energetic, ambitious and incisive as the 3-1 league triumph over Atletico at the same venue earlier in the month (indeed, much of the game was dire), but continuing the winning habit was an important thing to achieve, and almost every player seemed boosted by his involvement. Ivan Rakitic continues to settle into the system, while Dani Alves has looked better than he has in a long while.

Of course, Barcelona remain a club where crisis is only one defeat away, and everything might turn around in the second leg at the Vicente Calderon, but it is completely understandable if this win boosted the mood around the club further.

Afterward, midfielder Andres Iniesta said, per the Daily Mail:

"

It's a good result but the second leg is still to come and they are going to be 90 very intense minutes.

We performed extremely well against an opponent which is very tough to overcome.

Not conceding a goal is an important achievement but it does not guarantee anything. We will try to do things well again in the return.

"

Loser: Pedro Rodriguez

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

While Luis Enrique's decision to stick with the same outfield players for the third game in a row was justifiable, it was nonetheless noticeable that Pedro Rodriguez never got on the pitch.

As Diego Simeone aggressively rotated his attacking players—Fernando Torres and Mario Mandzukic only played 45 minutes, while Antoine Griezmann did not last the full 90—Enrique stuck with his famous front three to the end, leaving Pedro to sit on the bench and (presumably) consider his options.

He is in an awkward position. He almost cannot blame Enrique for starting Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar—the former is untouchable, while Barcelona signed the latter two for vast sums that make their position in the team imperative, for many reasons. Pedro, an academy graduate, is the obvious player to miss out, even if he has proved during his career more than capable of starting for a club of this stature.

Injuries may eventually solve the problem for all concerned, but it seems impossible to believe that Pedro will accept a role as a virtual benchwarmer for the club. This game underlined exactly where he is in the pecking order right now—even with Suarez clearly not at his best. If it continues, it could end with Pedro facing a difficult decision.

Winner: Jan Oblak

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press

It was deeply unfortunate—indeed almost unfair—for Jan Oblak that his best moment of the match was followed by the erasing of his clean sheet. Lionel Messi's penalty wasn't exactly brilliant, but Oblak still produced a solid save and did not deserve to see the ball rebound back to Messi's feet, which allowed the Argentine to tap the ball home and win the tie.

It was unfortunate for the goalkeeper, who otherwise had an almost faultless night. He was called into action early on to make a diving save to deny Neymar, and while that was the hardest save he was asked to produce, he continued to impress when called upon—looking safe under the high ball and marshalling the defence comfortably.

Oblak's difficulties at Atletico Madrid have been well-documented, and it remains something of an issue for the club that a player signed for so much money has not been able to nail down the No. 1 spot. But this was an encouraging display against a touch opponent—real evidence that there is still hope for him at the club.

The second leg will be another big test. If he can play similarly well, he might start giving Simeone something to think about.

Loser: Diego Godin

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Godin was not a loser for 90 minutes of the match, as he produced another typically excellent individual display. He anchored Atletico's defence, executing Diego Simeone's pre-match tactics to perfection. 

The Uruguayan could not be blamed for the winning goal—the foul that led to the penalty was, in many ways, a freak occurrence in which he was not involved—but a desperate foul he performed on Lionel Messi in the first minute of injury time could have a similarly decisive impact on the tie. Godin was booked for the cynical trip, which means he is ruled out of the second leg—leaving Atletico without their anchor as they look to overturn their deficit without conceding further goals.

The irony of the incident was that Godin felt compelled to trip Messi because he thought the striker was about to latch onto a through ball and get one-on-one with the goalkeeper, except the pass was too heavy for the forward to reach. But Godin thought he had to make the challenge for the good of his team—a split-second decision that proved to be the wrong one.

Only the second leg will prove just how big a miss Godin will prove to be, but his late booking was a huge blow—perhaps one every bit as big as the goal Atletico conceded.

"It's a result that can be turned around," Atletico defender Miranda told Canal Plus, via the Daily Mail. "We have a good defence, and we score in almost all our matches.

"With our fans behind us, who are always there when we need them, we will fight back."