The Atletico Madrid squad destroy their badge
Copa del Rey No desire against Cultural

Atletico Madrid haven't played that poorly in a long time.
Diego Simeone's didn't show intensity or the excitement at playing for the club that Simeone had asked for during their Copa del Rey defeat to Cultural Leonesa and they ended up paying the price.


Hector Herrera didn't make the most of his big moment. The Mexican was hooked at half time after a very poor first half in which he lost the ball a lot, didn't bring much in attack and looked a bit lost in the middle of the park. He's very far from the level expected of him.


It was hard for Vitolo to adapt to his position and he wasted a good chance to stamp his authority on the Atletico line-up. Cultural's defence didn't have many problems with him and the only chance to score he did have, he wasn't able to finish.


Angel Correa entered the fray and continued his good run in front of goal with Atletico's opener just after half time. He's quickly becoming one of the standout players under Simeone and is being decisive more often than before.


After watching the first 28 matches of this season either from the stands or from the bench, Ivan Saponjic finally made his Atletico debut in Reino de Leon. The Serbian striker had a couple of decent chances to prevent the game from going to extra time but his lack of sharpness in front of goal showed.


Once again, Joao Felix had moments of pure quality, including a great to Vitolo and his role in Correa's goal, but that high standard wasn't evident throughout the match. You expect more from a player of his price tag.


You couldn't really tell the gap between these two sides during the match. The hosts competed with Simeone's side throughout, dominated the game in various parts and posed a serious threat to Adan's goal.

This Atletico squad was dubbed the best in their history by some last summer. However, with their Copa del Rey future on the line, Joao Felix was playing alongside Saponjic, Riquelme and Sergio Camello.


Barcelona and Real Madrid had the right attitude against their lower-league opponents earlier in the week, but Atletico didn't. Simeone said in the hours before the match that it has to be an honour for anyone to play for Los Rojiblancos, but we didn't see that from his players at the Estadio Reino de Leon.