Barcelona must find their way past the minnows who embarrassed Atletico Madrid after being drawn to face neighbours Cornella in their Copa del Rey opener.

Ronald Koeman's Barca enter the competition at the last-32 stage and the record 30-time winners are sure to take Cornella seriously after their fellow Catalonians earned a 1-0 win over Atletico on Wednesday.

Cornella's Camp Municipal stadium is situated less than 10 miles away from Barcelona's Camp Nou, making it a dream draw for the Segunda B side.

Cornella are one of six teams from the Spanish third tier remaining in the competition and Real Madrid will face another of those in the form of Alcoyano, who beat LaLiga strugglers Huesca this week.

Athletic Bilbao face a trip to tackle Ibiza, while Real Sociedad will play Cordoba.

The lower-ranked sides will host the last-32 matches, which are to be played on January 16, 17, 20 or 21.

Barcelona, Real Madrid, Athletic and Sociedad have Supercopa de Espana commitments to tackle before turning their focus to the Copa del Rey, with that four-team tournament running from January 13-17.

Diego Simeone hinted at the idea he could leave Atletico Madrid at the end of the season after their awful Copa del Rey defeat to third-tier Cornella.

Simeone's LaLiga leaders exited the Copa on Wednesday, losing 1-0 to a goal from former Atletico B defender Adrian Jimenez.

Ricard Sanchez was sent off as Atleti slumped to a shock reverse swiftly described by the Spanish media as a "disaster" among the very worst of Simeone's 502 games in charge of the club.

The long-time coach named a strong side, including record signing Joao Felix, but saw his team remarkably unable to register a single shot on target.

Copa failings are a familiar story by now, though, with the Rojiblancos losing to Cultural Leonesa last season. Meanwhile, they have not beaten a fellow LaLiga outfit in the competition since seeing off Elche in January 2017.

Simeone recognised Atleti are struggling in one-off knockout matches - also losing in last season's Champions League to RB Leipzig - but added the surprising qualifier that it would be an issue to consider only if he was still at the helm next year.

"[Cornella] played better," he said. "In the whole game, what they wanted was always done better than what we wanted.

"They took advantage of the set-piece situations and immediately found the goal.

"The boys tried to compete in the best way. In the first half, we had more chances, and in the second, it was rockier. It got difficult after the red card.

"This competition has not given us satisfaction in recent years but solutions will have to be found if we are here next year."

Saul Niguez, captain on the night, identified the same problem as he added: "We apologise to the fans. We never throw away competitions, but in these single-game editions we are not doing well."

Given Atleti's struggles, the decision to replace Joao Felix with 18-year-old debutant Mario Soriano 15 minutes from time prompted some discussion.

But the Portugal international mustered only one shot, which was blocked, prior to his withdrawal and failed to create a single chance - unlike his replacement.

Joao Felix epitomised the visitors' display as he completed just 13 of his 21 attempted passes and lost possession 13 times, winning none of his three aerial duels.

The change still appeared a big call, yet Simeone explained his star forward was struggling with an ankle injury.

"He was hurt," Simeone said. "We looked for a fresher guy. He had a bruised ankle and we wanted to find a guy in good condition."

Atletico Madrid were the victims of a Copa del Rey giant-killing for a second successive season as Diego Simeone's side went down 1-0 to Cornella.

LaLiga leaders Atleti lost 2-1 to Cultural Leonesa in the round of 32 last season, and slumped out to Segunda B opposition on Wednesday.

The 10-time Copa winners fell behind to Adrian Jimenez's sensational flick seven minutes into the second-round tie in Catalonia.

Saul Niguez hit the woodwork and Lucas Torreira went close with a free-kick, but Ricard Sanchez's second booking compounded Atleti's issues as minnows Cornella claimed a famous triumph.

Sanchez was fortunate not to concede a penalty for handball in the opening minutes, before Jose Gimenez, making his 200th Atleti appearance, scythed down Raul Prieto.

With Gimenez, who was booked for his troubles, off the pitch receiving treatment, Cornella added insult to injury, with Agus Medina's cross flicked home expertly by Jimenez.

Atleti seemed set to restore parity shortly after the 20-minute mark, yet Angel Correa saw two efforts blocked either side of Saul hitting the crossbar.

Though Atleti were seeing over 60 per cent possession, they would have been 2-0 down heading into the break if not for Miguel San Roman's save from Pablo Fernandez.

Vitolo got in behind Cornella's backline early in the second half, only for an errant offside flag to deny him a chance to equalise.

Torreira's curling free-kick was inches away from levelling proceedings, though Atleti were then fortunate that Eloy Gila flicked over from close range at the other end.

Sanchez's frustrating night was made worse when he was deemed to have kicked out at Cornella goalkeeper Ramon Juan – the full-back seeing red just 11 minutes after receiving his first booking as Atleti's comeback efforts proved futile.