Barça draw with Atleti in 8-goal Copa barnburner BY Reuters Tue Feb 25 2025 23:22:29 - Pedri - 19' - Pau Cubarsí - 21' - Iñigo Martínez - 41' - Robert Lewandowski - 74' - Julián Álvarez - 1' - Antoine Griezmann - 6' - Marcos Llorente - 84' - Alexander Sørloth - 90'+3' Atletico stage two-goal comeback to earn Copa draw with Barcelona Burley: Barca got 'lazy' in draw with Atletico Madrid Craig Burley breaks down Barcelona's 4-4 draw with Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. Atlético Madrid clawed back from two goals down to rescue a 4-4 draw at Barcelona in a rip-roaring battle in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal on Tuesday. Atlético stunned the home side early on, taking a two-goal lead with Julián Álvarez opening the scoring inside the first minute and Antoine Griezmann extending their advantage five minutes later. However, Barcelona fought back with goals by Pedri in the 19th minute and Pau Cubarsí in the 21st, before taking the lead through Iñigo Martínez's header from a corner in the 41st minute. Barça took control of proceedings and Robert Lewandowski made it 4-2 with a tap-in from close range after great individual work by Lamine Yamal in the 74th minute. But if Barça's fans were confident of taking a two-goal advantage into the second leg, Atlético had other ideas. They struck back through Marcos Llorente in the 84th minute and another goal on the counter by Alexander Sorloth in the third minute of stoppage time left it all square ahead of the return encounter in the Spanish capital on April 2. Game Information - Referees: - Alejandro José Hernández Hernández Link to the original article Amorim: Job cuts result of poor performance BY Rob Dawson Tue Feb 25 2025 16:52:52 Ruben Amorim has admitted that the Manchester United staff who are set to lose their jobs in the latest round of cut-backs are paying the price for the team's lack of success on the pitch. United announced on Monday that potentially another 200 employees could be made redundant. The job losses are on top of the 250 members of staff who lost their jobs last summer. Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Amorim admitted the cuts are a direct result of the relative lack of success of the men's first team. United have lost more than £300m over the last three years and are 15th in the Premier League ahead of the fixture against Ipswich Town on Wednesday. "We have to address all the problems in the club but one important piece of this moment is to understand how we get to this situation," Amorim said. "It has a lot to do with the lack of success of the football team because we are the engine of any football club. "I just want to help the club in my department which is to improve the team and improve the players." Sources have told ESPN that the morale within the club since Sir Jim Ratcliffe's arrival as co-owner a year ago has nosedived as a result of the wide-ranging cost-cutting measures. On the pitch, the team are struggling and have one just one of their last four games. Amorim's record since taking over as manager in November stands at nine defeats in 22 games. "It is always hard, for everybody," Amorim said. "They see the friends, and teammates losing their jobs but we have to focus on what I can do to help the club in this moment. "We know this year was really hard for everybody. We did as a club a lot of changes and then when you are doing the changes if you have a football team who are playing well and are winning games, it is easier for the fans and everyone. But in this moment we are in a difficult period inside of the club and inside of the pitch so we have to fight against this feeling and we have to do our job and we try our best to help the team to perform better." Ipswich head to Old Trafford on a run of five defeats in their last six league games, including the heavy 4-1 home loss to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday. The game against Kieran McKenna's side should give Amorim the chance to improve on his record of just two league wins in seven at home. "Since I arrived, when I took t