Atletico Madrid midfielder Koke said his team had "deserved more" after they drew 1-1 in Tuesday's extra-eventful Copa del Rey semifinal second leg at Barcelona but were eliminated from the competition 3-2 on aggregate.
Atletico began the game excellently and had four clear chances inside the first 25 minutes, but just before half-time Luis Suarez shot Barca ahead after Lionel Messi's low shot was saved by visiting goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya.
An extra dramatic second half saw both Barca right-back Sergi Roberto and Atletico winger Yannick Carrasco sent off for second yellow cards, Colchoneros star Antoine Griezmann have a fine goal incorrectly ruled out for offside, and visiting substitute Kevin Gameiro miss a penalty.
The incidents kept coming, with Gameiro tapping home Griezmann's unselfish assist for 1-1 on the night, and Suarez also picking up a second booking, but Barca's nine men held on through five minutes of added time to make the final.
Speaking on Gol TV just after the final whistle, the Atletico playmaker said he was proud of his team's efforts, before congratulating Barca on making a fourth consecutive final.
.@Koke6: "Hemos merecido mucho más. Tenemos que estar orgullosos" #BarçaAtletiEnGol pic.twitter.com/v9MeitLEtz
- GOL (@Gol) February 7, 2017
"We are proud of the squad, the staff, everyone, all the work we did -- in the first leg, above all the second half, and again today," Koke said. "We had chances and deserved much more, but we must congratulate Barca, who are a great team and going to the final which is an achievement."
Koke said that Suarez making it 3-1 on aggregate had not changed their mindset, and he and his teammates had kept pushing and pushing even when things were not going their way.
"Them scoring did not change anything," he said. "We knew we would have to score two goals -- the team gave everything.
"We had the penalty, the early chance for Carrasco. I don't know if Griezmann was offside or not when he scored.
"This is football. We had to show up and battle and we are proud of what we have done. You cannot reproach what we did today."