Neymar scored deep in the second half to see Barcelona play to a 1-1 draw against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal match at Camp Nou on Tuesday night.
Atletico started the brighter of the two teams and almost opened the scoring in the fifth minute when a poor clearance from Jose Pinto allowed David Villa through on goal, but he fired inches wide from ten-yards out.
Barcelona suffered a bit of a setback in the 13th minute when Gerard Pique had to leave the field injured and was replaced by Marc Bartra.
Barcelona’s first attempt on goal came in the 23rd minute when Neymar met a corner-kick, but saw his flicked header well-saved by the keeper.
Three minutes later Lionel Messi slipped Andres Iniesta through on goal, but a last ditch block from Diego Godin on the goaline saw him keep the scores level.
Atletico then suffered a setback of their own on the half hour mark when Diego Costa had to leave the field injured and was replaced by Diego Ribas da Cunha.
Atletico, though, had the last say of the half in injury time when a quickly taken free-kick saw Villa into space on the edge of the box, but he saw his low shot tipped around the post by Pinto.
The half ended 0-0.
The second half saw Atletico surprise the mighty Barcelona when substitute Diego gave the visitors the lead in the 56th minute with a sensational shot from the far right that arrowed into top corner from 25-yards, 1-0.
Barcelona almost hit back ten minutes later when Sergio Busquets unleashed a thunderbolt from 30-yards which was superbly saved by Thibaut Courtois.
Neymar did find the equalizer for Barcelona in the 71st minute when he latched onto a defence splitting pass from Iniesta and curved a stunning finish beyond the keeper, 1-1.
Messi almost stole the win for Barcelona four minutes from time when he curled a 24-yard free-kick goalwards, but he saw his effort saved by the fingertips of the goalkeeper.
The match ended 1-1.
