Barcelona and Atletico Madrid draw 4-4 in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal.

Barcelona and Atletico Madrid both rallied from two goals down in a frantic 4-4 draw in the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinal at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Catalonia, Spain.

Atletico scored twice in the first six minutes before conceding four unanswered goals and coming back to even the match with goals in the final 10 minutes, including the equaliser by substitute Alexander Sorloth three minutes into stoppage time on Tuesday.

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Barcelona saw Atletico jump to an early lead, with goals by Julian Alvarez in the first minute and Antoine Griezmann in the sixth, but the hosts tied the game by the 21st minute thanks to goals two minutes apart by Pedri and Pau Cubarsi.

The Catalan club took a 3-2 lead into halftime after Iñigo Martínez scored in the 41st. Robert Lewandowski increased the lead in the 74th.

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Soccer Football - Copa del Rey - Semi Final - First Leg - FC Barcelona v Atletico Madrid - Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Barcelona, Spain - February 25, 2025 Atletico Madrid's Julian Alvarez scores their first goal REUTERS/Albert Gea
Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez opened the scoring on the night [Albert Gea/Reuters]

Atletico pulled closer with Marcos Llorente in the 84th and Sorloth got the equaliser from close range.

The second leg will be at Atletico’s Metropolitano Stadium in April.

The winner will play either Real Madrid or Real Sociedad, which will play their first-leg match on Wednesday in Basque Country.

Barcelona last won the competition in 2021, and Atletico in 2013.

Atletico had beaten Barcelona 2-1 in the Spanish league when the teams last met in December.

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Until the semifinal stage, the Copa’s knockout rounds were played in single-elimination games.

Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski scores during a Spanish Copa del Rey, or King's Cup, the semi-final soccer match between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025. AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski looked to have sealed the match with his side’s fourth goal [Joan Monfort/AP]

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An estimated 100,000 join antigovernment rally in Serbia’s Belgrade | Protests News

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At least 100,000 people descended on Belgrade for a mass rally seen as a culmination of months-long protests against Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic and his government.

Large crowds of flag-waving protesters clogged the downtown area of the capital on Saturday despite occasional rain, with people hardly able to move.

Following apparent sporadic incidents between protesters and the police, university students – who have been leading the peaceful protests for the past four months – abruptly called for an end to the demonstration, saying they could no longer guarantee safety at the rally.

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Most of the protesters dispersed, but thousands remained on the streets as tensions surged.

Police said the crowd reached 107,000 at the peak of the protest. Serbian independent media described the rally as the biggest ever in the country, saying the numbers were much higher. All public transport in Belgrade was cancelled as protesters streamed into the city from various directions.

The rally was part of a nationwide anticorruption movement that erupted after a concrete canopy collapsed at a train station in Serbia’s north in November, killing 15 people.

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Almost daily demonstrations that started in response to the tragedy have shaken Vucic’s firm grip on power in Serbia like never before, in his past 13 years in charge. Many in Serbia blamed the crash on rampant government corruption, negligence and disrespect of construction safety regulations, demanding accountability for the victims.

Before the demonstration, Vucic repeatedly warned of alleged plans for unrest while threatening arrests and harsh sentences for any incidents.

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Several reporters from neighbouring Croatia as well as Slovenia have been turned back from Serbia’s border, with the explanation that their presence at the rally “represents a security risk”.

Vucic has rejected earlier proposals for a transitional government that would organise an early election. He has claimed that Western intelligence services were behind the almost daily student-led protests, with the aim to remove him from power. He has presented no evidence for his claims.

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