Diego Simeone brutally trolls Lamine Yamal with gesture as Atletico humiliate Barcelona

Diego Simeone mocked Lamine Yamal in brutal fashion on Thursday night as Atletico Madrid thrashed Barcelona in the Copa del Rey.

Atletico beat the LaLiga leaders 4-0 in the semi-final first leg at the Wanda Metropolitano, with all four goals coming in the opening period.

EL Chringuito

An own goal from Barcelona defender Eric Garcia in the seventh minute was followed up by a strike from ex-Blaugrana forward Antoine Griezmann.

Ademola Lookman then notched in his second goal for Atletico following his £30.3million winter window switch from Atalanta.

And Lookman then turned provider for Arsenal target Julian Alvarez, who put the game beyond doubt as he finally ended his 14-game goal drought.

Barcelona’s woe was Atletico’s joy, with Simeone proceededing to rub salt in the wounds of Barcelona star Yamal after Lookman’s goal.

Three-sy does it

TV cameras caught the ex-Argentina international running down the touchline celebrating, before holding three fingers up in the direction of Yamal.

As the Spanish winger walked dejected by Simeone, he was met with the brutal taunt of what the current scoreline was.

And things then went from bad to worse for the visitors after Pau Cubarsi’s second half goal was ruled out.

To Hansi Flick‘s anger, VAR took eight minutes to confirm an offside.

The delay was due to a failure in the semi-automatic offside technology, meaning officials had to create the lines manually.

To make matters worse, Barca ended the night with ten men after Garcia was shown a straight red card for a late tackle on Alex Baena in the 85th minute.

Not known, clear with picture desk

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The two teams will meet in the second leg at the Nou Camp on March 4, with the winner to face either Real Sociedad or Athletic Bilbao in the final.

With one foot already in the Copa del Rey final, Atletico are dreaming of a first trophy since 2021, which was their LaLiga title.

Commenting on his delight at his side’s performance, Simeone told Spanish media: ” I think our people need these parties.

“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.”

Regarding ex-Everton and Fulham winger Lookman, who has four goal contributions from his opening three games, Simeone added: “His profile allows us to use him in different positions, and his impact on the team was very good.

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

As for Barca boss Flick, whose side are one point clear at the top of LaLiga – and 13 points ahead of Atletico – he remarked: “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 asked why it was offside. I don’t know why, but we have to accept it but I don’t agree.”