This was the Cup tie that Barça did come back from against Atlético in 1997: a 5-4 victory for the history books

In the matches between FC Barcelona and Atlético de Madrid, madness is served. This Tuesday, in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals between both teams at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Montjuïc, it was no different . The Madrid team took an early lead on the scoreboard - goals in the first and sixth minute - and the Blaugrana were forced to come back with four goals. But the 4-2 was not definitive, and there was still football ahead, so much so that they could equalise again, which vibrated until the last moments of the match and in which the score ended 4-4. An unpredictable match, full of comebacks and goals that did justice to the history between both teams. And above all, it reminded us of a memorable decade, the 90s. But even more so of March 12, 1997, when Barcelona did manage to beat Atlético 5-4 — like a miracle — after a 0-3 lead at half-time and with a legendary “Pizzi, you're great!” from journalist Joaquim Maria Puyal after the winning goal by Argentine striker Juan Antonio Pizzi.

That game was also in the Copa del Rey, but in the quarter-finals. More than 25 years have passed, and instead of Montjuïc, the stage was the Camp Nou . Barcelona, ​​then managed by Bobby Robson, had drawn the first leg at the Colchoneros' ground, and needed a victory to continue advancing in the competition. But the game could not have started in a worse way for the Catalans: Milinko Pantic scored the first, the second and the third for Atlético. There was still more than an hour left in the game and the Barça players returned to the dressing room with a dramatic 0-3 at half-time. Shortly before the break, Stoichkov and Pizzi entered the field. The latter would not imagine being the hero at the end of the match. In the second half, Barcelona woke up, and a star like Ronaldo appeared to score two goals in just three minutes. The Camp Nou was a cauldron. The miracle seemed to fade away with Pantic's 2-4, and was resurrected with Figo's goal in the 67th minute and Ronaldo's 4-4 equaliser five minutes later. In the 83rd minute, near the end of the match, Pizzi scored the 5-4 that went down in history for the epic comeback and Puyal's narration.

But in the nineties there are more precedents that corroborate the encounters between Barcelona and Atlético as pure spectacle, as heartfelt madness. In the ninth match of the 1993/94 season, Cruyff's Barcelona arrived at the Vicente Calderón as leaders and favourites to take home the title that they would eventually end up lifting. But Romario's hat-trick in the first half was not enough to win the match, which Atlético ended up coming back in the second half with a decisive goal from Caminero in the last minute to make it 4-3. Two seasons later, in 95/96, it would be the colchoneros who would take the league. On April 20, 1996, they beat Barcelona at the Camp Nou, with a great dribble from Caminero to Nadal for the first goal of the match and a draw at half-time. Atlético took charge in the second half of going ahead again on the scoreboard and sealing the match with a 1-3.

That was the last league title for Atlético until the 2013/14 season. On 17 May 2014, Atlético arrived at the Camp Nou as leaders with a two-point advantage over Barcelona. They managed to draw the match (1-1), lift the title and end years of league dominance by Barcelona and Real Madrid. A year later, at the Calderón, the Blaugrana took revenge, beating their rivals by the minimum to finally win the league.

Summary of Barça's comeback against Atlético in the 1997 Cup

Much earlier, on April 18, 1971, neither team won, but both lost. That day was the last matchday. Both teams were fighting to win the League alongside Di Stéfano's Valencia, who had lost to Espanyol at Sarrià. A victory for Barcelona would make the Catalans champions, and a victory for Atlético would make the Colchoneros champions. There was a goal for the Blaugrana and another for their rivals. But there was half an hour left in the game and neither team could get ahead on the scoreboard. If the match ended in a draw, Valencia would win the League. Nobody else scored at the Calderón, a draw between Atlético and Barça, so Valencia became champions.

The encounters between Barcelona and Atlético are subject to explosiveness, to madness, as happened this Tuesday , and as may happen again on April 2 in the return leg of the Copa del Rey semi-finals. History is full of precedents ready to repeat themselves. Or not.