A late goal helped 10-man Malaga to a fighting 2-2 draw against Barcelona in the first leg of the Copa Del Rey quarterfinals.
Lionel Messi and Carles Puyol had cancelled out Manuel Iturra's opener at the Camp Nou, before Ignacio Camacho struck in the final minute of normal time to give Malaga a slender advantage going into the second leg.
"In the first half we played at a good level and the normal thing would have been to go to the break with a better result," Barcelona manager Tito Vilanova said.
"I don't think Malaga were superior. In the first half we were the better side and in the second it was more equal."
Barcelona came quickly out of the blocks, dominating the game from the word go, with Alexis Sanchez going close. An opening goal for the home side seemed inevitable, when Malaga struck out of the blue.
Thiago Alcantara gave the ball away to Iturra just outside the Barca penalty area, with the Malaga player coolly slotting home into the bottom corner in the 26th minute.
However, the lead did not last long, as Messi netted the equalizer three minutes later. The Argentine superstar stole the ball from Weligton before going on a trademark run and curling one home into the back of the net.
Puyol gave Barca the advantage a minute later, heading home off a Thiago corner.
Malaga's chances of getting an equalizer seemingly diminished when Nacho Monreal was shown a straight red card for a professional foul on Pedro in the 71st minute.
However, there was one final twist in the tale as Camacho scored the equalizer off a corner in the final moment of the game to give Malaga hope going into the second leg at their own stadium.
"It's a shame because we had chances to increase our lead, especially in the first half," Barcelona defender Javier Mascherano said. "We didn't manage to convert those chances and we ended up conceding the equaliser while being up a man.
"We shouldn't feel down about it, what we need to do is correct the errors and go to Malaga and win the match.
"Sometimes there are matches where we can't play with the same fluidity that we have in other matches.
"We shouldn't go crazy about this, rather we just need to go to Malaga and win the game. This team has shown that it can win in any stadium.
"It will be a difficult match because our opponent has very good players and a good manager."
In the day's other quarterfinal, Real Zaragoza and Sevilla played out a goalless draw in the first leg.
