ANKARA
Hosts Barcelona narrowly defeated defending Spanish football league champions Atletico Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of Copa del Rey (Spanish King's Cup) quarterfinal Wednesday night.
Atletico Madrid, favoring a defensive approach, were on the whole dominated by Barcelona.
Still, the match remained scoreless until the 83rd minute when "Barca" midfielder Sergio Busquets was brought down by Juanfran in the box and the referee awarded a penalty to the home team.
Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak initially made the save but the Argentine star Lionel Messi followed his own miss to open the score and seal the victory for Barcelona.
The return game will be played in Madrid is going to be played in Madrid on Jan. 28.
