Atletico Madrid vs. Barcelona: 2017 Spanish Copa del Rey Leg 1 Score, Reaction

First-half goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi saw Barcelona to a 2-1 victory over Atletico Madrid in their Copa del Rey semi-final first leg at the Vicente Calderon Stadium on Wednesday.

A much-improved Atleti display after the break returned an Antoine Griezmann goal just before the hour mark, but Barca are firm favourites to reach the final, having sealed an away win.

Atleti will have to put in a stellar performance in the second leg on Tuesday at the Camp Nou if they are to turn the tie around.

Barcelona are on track for three successive Copa wins and will reach their fourth final on the bounce if they avoid defeat in the second leg.

Both clubs provided their lineups ahead of kick-off:

Suarez put Barca ahead in style after just seven minutes. The Uruguayan picked up the ball on the halfway line and drove away from two Atleti defenders before rounding another pair with a well-timed flick and clipping the ball home.

Per Sport, Javier Mascherano started the break, but Suarez had a huge amount of work to do when he received the ball:

Barca were set up to hit Atleti on the counter-attack, and Neymar forced goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya into a save midway through the opening half, having cut in from the left.

Messi then doubled Barca's lead 12 minutes from the break, thundering a left-footed strike from the edge of the area in off the post.

Atleti were improved in the second half and almost claimed a goal back just after the break following a neat exchange between Koke and Fernando Torres.

Griezmann then found the net 31 minutes from time to give Atleti a glimmer of hope. The Frenchman had not seen much of the ball in the opening hour but rose brilliantly to head home for the hosts after Diego Godin stood up a long free-kick.

Messi and Griezmann then both missed good chances to add to the scoreline.

After failing to claw back Barcelona's 2-1 advantage, Atleti now have a lot of work to do if they are to make the final of the 2017 Copa del Rey.

Post-Match Reaction

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

A return-leg trip to the Camp Nou in the face of a 2-1 deficit doesn't bode well for Atletico's Copa del Rey chances, but manager Diego Simeone saw enough positives in his side's second-half display to find some hope on Wednesday.

Speaking to the media after the result, the Argentinian said compatriot Messi's goal to make it 2-0 "killed our hopes of playing" before hailing Atleti's response after the break, via Los Rojiblancos' official Twitter account:

Simeone wasn't the only manager to laud the individual brilliance of Messi, either, as Barca boss Luis Enrique insisted his talisman tends to find his finest form on the biggest stages, as reported by FourFourTwo:

"It's in big, special games like this that Messi shines. There aren't many words left to describe him," he said. "It's in big games that we see the best of Messi."

Enrique also hailed his squad for being able to do without some of their biggest stars in the face of such big opposition and added: "If there is any team in the world who can cover absences, it is Barca. [Neymar] is a key player for us, but we have players who can cover in his position."