Atletico Madrid 2-1 Barcelona: Lookman 31; Yamal 4, Torres 24
Atletico Madrid lost 2-1 to Barcelona on Tuesday night, but it was enough to send them through to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in ten years. Having won the first leg 2-0 at Camp Nou, Diego Simeone’s side progressed 3-2 on aggregate despite falling apart early at the Metropolitano.
Barcelona needed just 24 minutes to level the tie. Lamine Yamal opened the scoring in the fourth minute, capitalising on a mistake from Atletico’s Clement Lenglet and slotting in low to Juan Musso’s right. Then on minute 24 Ferran Torres finished off a clever pass from Dani Olmo to make it 2-0 on the night and level the aggregate score.
Atletico responded on the half-hour. Antoine Griezmann played a superb first-time pass to release Marcos Llorente, whose pace took him clear of the Barcelona defence. Llorente then crossed for Ademola Lookman, who had the better of Jules Kounde and finished first-time to restore Atletico’s aggregate lead. It proved to be the winner.
Barcelona pushed hard in the second half. Torres thought he had scored again only for VAR to rule it offside. Musso made several vital saves, including a strong reaction block to stop Fermin Lopez heading in after Yamal had sent in a delicious pass with the outside of his boot. Lopez ended up bloodied after the goalkeeper’s studs caught his face.
Matters worsened for Barcelona in the 79th minute with a repeat of the first-leg’s events. Substitute Alexander Sorloth was sent through on goal, and this time it was Barcelona’s Eric Garca who brought him down and was shown a red card for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Down to ten men, Barcelona were close to some jubilation late on when Araujo threatened to force extra time, but the defender headed wastefully over the bar.
