The La Liga Giants had a comfortable advantage against Diego Simeone’s men in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but failed after a late mistake from Goalkeeper Neto which allowed Atletico to reach showpiece’s final.

And Messi has reacted saying that Barcelona should have successfully held on in the dying stages of the stunning match.

Atletico took the lead just one minute into the second half when Angel Correa slipped through Koke to score the opener.

But a fantastic display from Messi dramatically turned the match around, with the Argentine scoring the leveller before seeing another goal ruled out for handball.

Despite Barcelona taking the lead through former Atletico star Antoine Griezmann, it was their opponents who fought back, leaving Messi to reflect on a missed opportunity.

‘It is a shame, we played a good game, after a long while we felt good again, we had it in control, dominated and pressed all the time,’ Messi told reporters.

‘We let a great lead slip through bad mistakes when Atletico were already dead, but in less than 10 minutes they turned the game around that we should have already closed out.

‘It is painful because it is a important title and we wanted to win it in the final, we showed a different approach to what we have showed against Espanyol and at the end of last year, we played a great game but sadly it wasn’t enough for the victory.

‘We did take a step forward today despite the loss but we do know that we have not been doing things the way we want, we can’t afford to make these childish mistakes again.

Atletico Madrid will now face rivals Real Madrid in the final on Sunday in a Madrid Derby, much to the dislike of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi.

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