Barcelona - Atlético first leg Champions League quarter-finals 2016: how it happened

Atlético manager Diego Simeone confirmed ahead of the match that Fernando Torres, the bane of Barça, would start in Camp Nou. And it was indeed El Niño who drew first blood, pouncing on a great ball from Koke to slot home and put Atleti into the lead after 25 minutes.

Torres remained firmly in the spotlight, but not for any further goal-scoring exploits. He was sent off in the 35th minute after picking up two yellow cards in quick succession, and leaving Simeoene's side facing 65 minutes with a man less.

Even for the famed Atleti defence that was too much, and a brace from Suárez saw Barça get back to winning ways after Saturday's defeat in the Clásico, and take a slender, but very important, lead to the Calderón. 

Here's how we covered it:

Teams:

Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Alves, Piqué, Mascherano, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Iniesta; Messi, Luis Suárez, Neymar.

Atlético Madrid: Oblak; Juanfran, Lucas, Godin, Filipe; Koke, Gabi, Saul, Carrasco; Griezmann, Torres.

Live coverage:

Min 1 | Kick off! Here we go...

Min 2 | Barcelona, in their away Senyera kit already passing around the Atlético box. A ball for Suárez goes out for a goal kick.

Min 3 | Iniesta already looks ready for this one. Pass the ball, get it back, pass the ball, repeat.

Min 5 | Messi shoots just wide to the sound of a collective "Ooooohh."

Min 7 | Felipe Luis knocks Suárez out of bounds. The crowd aren't too happy. He's public enemy number one tonight.

Min 8 | Carrasco, who was tonight's surprise inclusion, wins a free-kick for Atleti. But they don't do much with it.

Min 9 | Barcelona pinned deep in their own half, but they still manage to pass and dink their way out of trouble. How many times have we seen that over the years? 

Min 12 | Tik, tak, tik, tak. Atlético happy to leave Barcelona with the ball.

Min 13 | First of (probably) many chances for Messi to score goal 500 tonight. Lashes it well wide.

Min 14 | Applause. For number 14. Johan Cruyff.

Min 17 | Simeone looks like he could be rewarded for his inclusion of Carrasco. He is troubling Barcelona, without yet forcing Ter Stegen into much work. 

Min 19 | Messi heads the ball away from Carrasco (how?), Alves picks it up and crosses to Neymar who heads over. Was in a good enough position to get it on target. Neymar's first goal for Barça was a headed goal against Atlético (in the same strip). His most recent should also have been...

Min 21 | The tik, tak, tik, tak has moved a good 20 yards up the pitch. Atleti still happy to leave Barcelona with the ball, though.

Min 23 | Just been a chance for Grieeeeeezmaaaaann! His shot from distance goes just wide on the right-hand side.

Min 25 | GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!! Torres does it again. Just as he scored "that" goal for Chelsea, El Niño scores at the Camp Nou again. Great pass from Koke around the flailing leg of Pique.

Miin 27 | Barcelona look to be in shock. Atlético already have the away goal they came for and are slowing everything down.

Min 28 | All 11 Atleti men behind the ball,but Iniesta almost wriggles his way through anyway. 

Min 29 | Yellow card for the goalscorer Torres for lashing out at the dribbling Neymar. 

Min 30 | Referee already telling Oblak not to time-waste.

Min 31 | Almost a second away goal for Atleti. Great save from Ter Stegen to deny Griezmann. 

Min 33 | Yellow card for Koke for stopping a counter attack. One of those "it was worth taking" bookings.

Min 35 | RED CARD! TARJETA ROJA! The goalscorer Torres (who has been seeing yellow and red all evening long as the Barcelona shirts crowded around him) gets a second yellow. Both were silly challenges (on Neymar and on Busquets) far away from Atlético's goal. This could be the lifeline Barcelona need.

Min 38 | Barcelona yet to make the most of their man advantage. And Atlético are defending just as well. 

Min 40 | Have Barça learned how to play against ten men yet? Sergio Ramos joked that he'd have gotten sent off earlier on Saturday if he'd known the ten men of Real would win. Had Torres been listening to him?

Min 42 | Mascherano gives away a foul, but the resulting free-kick goes nowhere as the referee blows for yet another foul.

Min 44 | Iniesta's cross is well cut out and Atlético can clear their lines. 

Min 45 | Neymar heads to Suárez in the six-yard box, but the Uruguayan is offside. 

Min 45 + 1 | As this isn't a LaLiga meeting between these two, we'll actually play some stoppage time. Two minutes.

Min 45 + 2 | Peep, peep, peep! Neymar shoots over from distance and that's that from this first half. Barcelona 0-1 Atlético at half-time.

Torres has had a very yellow and red evening. Against the Senyera-kitted Barcelona he scored a vital away goal, but then left his teammates a man down by making two silly challenges and getting himself sent off. He caught both Neymar and Busquets late, on both occasions far far away from the goal. 

Atlético were able to defend well with a man disadvantage and will hope that Barcelona still haven't learned how to play against ten men. They could not break down the ten men of Real Madrid on Saturday evening and could be heading towards a second defeat in a week if they don't sort things out in the second half. 

It has been an eventful evening in the stands as well. The Barcelona fans whistled the Champions League anthem before kick-off, before the whole stadium applauded Johan Cruyff in the 14th minute. When Bayern coach Pep Guardiola was staring a Champions League exit in the face in the last round, he admitted that he said to himself, "What would Cruyff have done?" Barcelona must think the same thing in the half-time break.

Min 48 | Saúl does an Iniesta and wriggles his way towards the goal. His cross is cleared and Barcelona go up the other end, but their attack is halted by an offside call. Then ... Atlético go all the way back up the other end and Griezmann almost converts a cross. Then ... Barça go back down their end a Messi overhead kick goes just wide. It's certainly end to end stuff!

Min 51 | The post is still shaking. Neymar curls an effort towards goal, but the post is there to knock it away. 

Min 52 1 Barcelona are getting closer. All ten remaining Atlético players are stuck in the box and Barcelona are coming close to that golden opportunity. Atlético switch Carrasco for Agusto Fernández.

Min 54 | Rakitic crosses the ball in and Neymar gets his header on target this time. His effort is straight at Oblak, though.

Min 56 | Messi shoots from that position outside the box where we've seen him score so many times. His shot is saved and he still searches goal number 500. And, more importantly, the equaliser.

Min 57 | It's a bit early for "stick-Pique-up-front" territory, but the centre-half almost gets on the end of a cross. 

Min 59 | Pique, back at his normal position, slides in to cut out a dangerous looking (and rare) Atlético counter attack. 

Min 60 | If there's one team that would prefer to play with ten men, it's Atlético. They are thriving with a man less.

Min 61 | Tonight's pantomine villain Felipe Luis gets his inevitable yellow card for a tussle with Suárez. Then Neymar comes close again, with a shot that curls just around the post.

Min 74 | GOOOOAAAAALLLLL!!! Suarez again to give Barça a lead! He passes to Alves and the returned cross from Alves is headed into the net by Suárez. Koke, Felipe Luis and Griezmann all booked. Torres has already been sent off.

Min 77 | Now Lucas Hernández is shown a yellow for a foul on Neymar. Didn't at all look like the was going for the ball and he's lucky not to be joining Torres in the early shower. (Or unlucky, some Torres fans might say...)

Min 79 | Busquets coming off now, replaced by Sergi Roberto. With this game heating up, Enrique might be looking to avoid a second yellow for one of his star players.

Min 80 | Ten minutes to go in Spain's so-called "New Clásico". Can Atlético get a second away goal?

Min 82 | A yellow card for Mascherano now. Plus we all take a breather for Arda Turan to come on (replacing Iniesta) against his old club and for Gabi to receive some treatment. 

Min 84 | POSSIBLE PENALTY? Messi has the ball, exchanges a pass with Neymar and dribbles into the box where he is seemingly tripped. Was he already falling down? Should Barcelona have been given a chance to miss yet another penalty?

Min 86 | Sergi Roberto makes a run down the right wing, but loses the ball and Atlético have a second to breathe.

Min 87 | Rafinha is livid. A foul goes against him in the box.

Min 88 | Free-kick for Atlético is converted into a corner. Can they equaliser?

Min 89 | After minutes and minutes of waiting for the tussling to stop, Rafinha (the first man) clears it.

Min 90 | FIVE MINUTES STOPPAGE TIME! Plenty of time for this to finish 2-2, 3-1 or who knows what.

Min 90 + 1 | A cross falls for Neymar, but he is crowded before he has time to shoot.

Min 90 + 3 | Messi, Neymar and Sergi Robero link up in the box before Roberto is (legally) thrown to the ground. 

Min 90 + 4 | Atlético are slowing things down now, seemingly content with their one away goal.

FULL TIME: Barcelona 2-1 Atlético.