In general terms it was even between both teams & but perhaps Barcelona was fortunate to have equalized in the second half as tiredness affected Atletico de Madrid when they were playing better & "knocking" around Barça. That´s one version, the other version is that FC Barcelona remained cool under pressure & waited for their chance to pounce on knowing that things would be really settled next week at Barcelona.
Atletico de Madrid was tactically very good tonight & very disciplined holding strong to the initial Barça dominance. In the 13th min a Arda Turan cross found David Villa who superbly volleyed to score against his ex-team.
The status-quo remained all the first half with Atletico de Madrid growing in confidence & unfortunately not converting more opportunities that could have put the home side further ahead.
The second half caused surprise as Lionel Messi was substituted for Cesc Fabregas, with the former suspected of fulling again to a leg muscle injury that will need to be examined to see the full ramifications. Atletico de Madrid was the clear dominate team up to the 67th min & could have gone further ahead if they had converted their chances. The referee also forgave a red card to Barça midfielder Busquets which could have also had an effect on the final result as it would have leave his team with 10 men.
However, an Atletico de Madrid defensive relapse perhaps due to tiredness & the smart positioning from Neymar who had just come on, allowed the Brazilian to head home the equalizer from a Dani Alves pass the gave Neymar is first official goal in Spanish Football.
From here both sides attempted to better & made numerous substitutes but their minds were to keep the result & take the battle once again onto next week for the return 2º leg were the Spanish Super Cup would be decided.
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