Different venue, same result.

For the third time this season, Barcelona bested Atletico Madrid Wednesday, eliminating the defending Spanish League champions from the Copa del Rey. As a result, Blaugrana, which no longer has to face either of two Madrid sides, is the now the runaway favorite to claim the Copa del Rey. Consider the pool of teams remaining, this trophy is Lionel Messi and company's to lose.

But the real story is the turnaround Barcelona has had against a team that bested them throughout 2013-14 and eliminated Barcelona from two different championships throughout that season.

After the first leg, we looked at why Barcelona was succeeding and their latest victory featured different themes. What did Barcelona do differently to win?

Neymar

The Brazilian had come under fire in recent weeks for playing poorly alongside Luis Suarez. That is not an issue any longer and Neymar seems to be finding his rhythm alongside Messi and Suarez.

In the nine games that included and followed the 3-1 loss at Real Madrid, Neymar had only scored four goals.

But since a 5-0 win over Elche on Jan. 8, he has found a new gear and has scored seven goals and one assist in six games. Only Messi, he of eight goals and three assists in the last seven games, has looked better than his Brazilian teammate.

And Messi has been the theme of the year for Barcelona. But on Wednesday, it was Neymar who made up for a rather lackluster performance from his superstar colleague.

Luck

Oftentimes, you need some miracle to help you through the game. That is the way with sports.

And on Wednesday, Barcelona had some of it.

Giving up a goal in the first minute is a bit of misfortune and then conceding on a penalty to go down 2-1 is just as painful.

At that point, Atletico was in cruise control and only needed one more strike to put Blaugrana on the brink of elimination.

But then luck struck -- and it struck big.

First, a header of a corner kick was headed at goal. It was likely to go wide if not for a poorly-timed kick from Miranda, who usually does not make those mistakes. The bitter irony of the situation was that aerial setpieces are the domain of Atletico Madrid and while the team dominated the air throughout the night, it was a mistake on defending a setpiece that ultimately let the team down.

And then, questionable decisions led to two red cards and an Atletico Madrid side that had to play the end of the game down two men. There have been dirtier games between these two teams that have not seen red cards. That this one had two against Los Colchoneros indicates that on some level, Blaugrana had some solid luck.

Counter Attacks

Does anyone want to take a look at how Barcelona scored its other two goals?

Shockingly the goals were not the result of a slow tiki taka buildup. There was surely beautiful passing involved, but they were off a counterattack on both instances. Messi was the one with key passes on both occasions, but the reality is that it was a game plan that stifled Atletico tremendously.

Los Colchoneros seemed ready to sit back and soak in pressure, but it was Barcelona who seemed intent on goading the opposition into pressuring high and getting caught on the counter.

In the first leg, Blaugrana played a more conservative brand of passing soccer, but with a 1-0 advantage, the team knew that it could take more risks and unsettle its rival.

It was refreshing to watch because Barcelona is filled with a plethora of quick players that could become tremendously dangerous on a rush up the pitch. Atletico is physical, but far from fleet of foot. Allowing them to play positional defense works well into their game plan. However, making them run around and lose their structure is the kind of soccer that the defending Spanish club cannot do. And that is exactly what Barcelona did to win its second tie.

In the second half, with the result essentially out of reach, the world saw Barcelona revert to a more cautious style knowing full well that all it had to do was keep the ball and avoid giving up three more goals.