It was the silence that was striking. Save for the Atletico Madrid supporters high up in the half-finished Camp Nou, the atmosphere had been sucked from the stadium. Barcelona deflated and defeated by their old foe Diego Simeone on a night of firsts.
For Barcelona, their first failure to win since returning here and the first time that they had failed to score in a home game anywhere since 2024. For Atletico, a first win over Barca at Camp Nou under Simeone and a first clean sheet in this season's competition.
This 2-0 win for Atleti in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final was a shock - and not just to the Barcelona fans full of expectation against opposition that they had beaten here 3-0 last month and 2-1 over in Madrid as recently as the weekend.
Atletico's away form has undermined them for much of this campaign. There has been a softness at the back that would be regarded as uncharacteristic for those who remember Simeone's sides that grafted their way to finals in both 2014 and 2016.
A decade on and while the coach remains and elements of his intensity are all over this team, prior to this game it was an Atletico that had lost more than they had won on their travels this season. They came in on the back of three consecutive away defeats.
What a time for Barcelona to be undone and what a combination of events that conspired for Atletico to confound them.
Julian Alvarez helped to engineer it, typifying the energy and endeavour required to beat Barcelona on their own patch. Perpetual motion off the ball and devastating on it, for all the trickery of Lamine Yamal, it is the Argentinian who has shaped this entire tie.
Alvarez picked out the pass to Giuliano Simeone from which Pau Cubarsi took him down and was sent off. His strike from the subsequent free-kick then curled high into the net. Barcelona are reportedly interested in signing him. It will feel a little too late.
A man and a goal up, the question was how Simeone would handle it. There are times when he has appeared at odds with his own side this season, seeking to defend leads when the group is ill-equipped to go full Diego Godin to repel the opposition onslaught.
He waited until almost an hour had passed before introducing Alexander Sorloth but it was the right decision. The big Norwegian scored in three different games against Barca last season and home and away against them for Villareal in the season before that.
While Atletico had gone a generation without winning at Camp Nou, Sorloth scored in a victory here for Real Sociedad. Now he has done so in red and white too, sweeping home a smart first-time finish from Matteo Ruggeri's left-wing cross. Cue that silence.
The ever classy Antoine Griezmann started that move, providing additional control in a deeper midfield role, another example of his astonishing adaptability. Simeone had memorably and movingly praised him pre-match. He showed again why he earns it.
Barcelona will tell themselves the tie is not over - and rightly so given the capabilities of Yamal. But Atletico have lost only three times at home this season, each of those defeats coming by the odd goal. That would not be enough for Barca to progress in Madrid.
As a result, Atletico are on the brink of a first semi-final in nine years. Then, as in the two final appearances prior to that in the Champions League era, they were beaten by Real Madrid. But there is every chance that their great rivals will already be out on this occasion.
Could Simeone finally pull it off? It would be a stunning final chapter because there have been murmurings about the job that he has been doing since winning LaLiga in 2021. It has not been as obvious as before that he was coaxing the maximum from the group.
Indeed, in the four seasons that followed that pandemic-hit season, Atletico finished below Girona more times than they finished above Spain's big two, They did not make a Copa del Rey final and did not pass the quarter-final stage of the Champions League either.
But they will be favourites to win the Copa del Rey when they take on Real Sociedad later this month. That game had looked likely to be Griezmann's best chance of glory in his final season before leaving for Orlando. It still is but suddenly there is a sizeable caveat.
Now there is a new Disney script emerging with another of Griezmann's former clubs halfway to being vanquished and, most likely, Arsenal standing in Atletico's way in the last four. A possible clash between the two biggest clubs still waiting to win this trophy.
The Gunners might appear to have the edge having beaten Atletico 4-0 in October. But that is what they thought in Barcelona until the silence fell and Simeone slipped down the tunnel and into the night. Still underestimated and still chasing that European crown.
The pictures within this article were taken by OPPO Find X9 Pro. OPPO has partnered with UEFA Champions League since 2022 and currently serves as the Official Smartphone Product Partner.
