Second minute of stoppage time at the Metropolitano on Wednesday night. Atletico Madrid are looking to craft one last chance to equalise and send their Copa del Rey semi-final against Barcelona to extra time.

A cross from the left deflects off Barca right-back Jules Kounde and loops towards the visitors’ six-yard box.

Barca centre-back Ronald Araujo reacts first, with two Atletico players waiting, and partially clears under pressure…

… before fellow defender Eric Garcia heads it further out to dropping striker Robert Lewandowski (out of frame in the grab below) to allow Barcelona to push up the pitch.

All three of those players, Araujo, Garcia and Lewandowski, were second-half substitutions.

All three contributed to Barcelona winning the game 1-0 and the tie 5-4 on aggregate to progress into a Copa del Rey final Clasico against Real Madrid at the end of the month.

All three provided further evidence that Barca manager Hansi Flick has mastered the art of substitutions — and is thus getting the best out of his whole squad as they fight to win a treble of Copa del Rey, La Liga and Champions League this season.

There was a feeling, after Ferran Torres scored what proved the game’s only goal in the 27th minute and Barcelona dominated the first half, that Atletico fans were about to witness a straightforward defeat.

But then Atletico head coach Diego Simeone brought on Alexander Sorloth at half-time to join Julian Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann up front.

In the first leg just over a month ago, when Atletico clawed back from being two goals down in the 83rd minute to draw 4-4, the three-striker strategy (with Angel Correa instead of Griezmann) paid dividends for Simeone, with Flick later saying it “was not easy to defend”.

Barca learned from that, though. Last night, when Simeone tried it again, Flick threw on Garcia and Araujo for Pau Cubarsi and Fermin Lopez in the 58th minute.

Like in their 1-0 win away at Benfica in the Champions League round of 16 on March 5, Araujo’s arrival led to Barcelona’s defensive line dropping off a few yards, as the comparison below makes clear.

This first grab shows their back line’s positioning before Sorloth’s 93rd-minute equaliser in that first leg:

And this one shows Barcelona weren’t defending as high up the pitch in added time of yesterday’s second leg:

Encouragingly for Barca, Araujo — who thrives in situations like that, rather than as part of a high defensive line — is picking up the nuances of their offside trap.

Atletico were caught offside four times in the second half on Wednesday, including twice in just one minute of game time. On the first of those, Sorloth scored a ‘goal’ that was then disallowed but Araujo initially did well to hold his position despite being drawn to the ball.

The second saw the Uruguayan opt to not follow Griezmann, going against his natural tendencies.

Araujo’s physicality was useful on the night too, as he battled the 6ft 4in (195cm) Sorloth in open play and also kept Atletico’s centre-backs at bay from set pieces.

Two specific incidents highlighted his value.

In the first, on 78 minutes, he duels Sorloth for a long ball and wins it but then falls to the turf under pressure. Kounde then hacks his initial clearance upwards.

Sorloth prepares to attack the ball again, but Araujo pops back to his feet quickly and gets ahead of the Atletico striker to steer a header up the pitch towards dropping midfielder Frenkie de Jong.

The second incident was one of the final actions of the game.

As Rodrigo De Paul swings in a free kick towards the penalty spot, Araujo leaps highest to head clear.

Atletico win the second ball and work it wide to Pablo Barrios, who crosses into the box again.

Barcelona push up but home centre-backs Clement Lenglet and Jose Maria Gimenez keep themselves onside. Lenglet passes towards Gimenez, but Araujo is there again to hook the ball behind for a corner.

As other Barcelona players appealed for offside, Araujo briefly celebrated before directing them to their positions to defend the set piece, which they did successfully to seal the win.

While Araujo was key out of possession, Garcia and Lewandowski were important when Barcelona had the ball.

Garcia’s impact was evident moments after he came on. After helping Alejandro Balde and Pedri defend a cross, he races into space to meet a pass from Raphinha, with Atletico defender Nahuel Molina slow to react.

He fouls Garcia to end a period of Atletico pressure.

Nine minutes later, the Spaniard was at it again, this time over on the other flank. He receives Kounde’s pass in space…

… before bursting past four Atletico players (thanks to Lamine Yamal dragging Lenglet out of position).

This creates a three-on-two situation. Garcia then passes to Torres, whose first touch allows Atletico to close him down.

There were other benefits to Garcia’s substitution too, as he mixed darts forward with protecting his defence, which meant Pedri could operate as a No 8 and dictate periods of sustained Barcelona possession late on, burning clock as they hung onto their narrow lead.

With Torres off and Lewandowski on, De Jong supplied Barca’s rare runs in behind Atletico’s defence, with the veteran striker positioned in the space between them and their midfielders.

Lewandowski’s role — as in that win over Benfica in Lisbon a month ago — was to use his hold-up play.

Barca goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny repeatedly targeted him in the latter stages of the match. The best example of this came in the second minute of added time as Lewandowski got ahead of and leapt higher than Lenglet to guide Szczesny’s pass towards Raphinha.

The Brazilian then carried the ball past Atletico’s defenders to the other flank before passing backwards, starting another stretch of Barcelona possession.

Lewandowski, who came off the bench to score in the first leg, got one of Barca’s three shots on target in the second half and helped them defend at set pieces too.

Garcia, Araujo and Lewandowski combined to win seven of their 14 combined duels.

Araujo committed three fouls — each of them in Atletico territory — while Garcia committed two to stop the home side progressing upfield, all of which proved crucial.

After the match, Flick said, “It’s always about the team. It’s not just 11 players. Every player who came in gave his best — this is how a team works.”

With six matches to play in La Liga and the Champions League over 18 days before that Copa del Rey final in Seville on April 26, Barcelona will need more of the same.

(Top photo: M Gracia Jimenez/Soccrates via Getty Images)