Agony for Atletico, relief for Real Madrid in Champions League

calcutta: Jan Oblak’s crowd had got the globe to jounce in look. Atletico Madrid would have lived had Antonio Rüdiger’s penalty been saved but the ball flipped back into goal.

Who else but defending champions Real Madrid to prolong the agony of Atletico Madrid in Europe? It is a run that stretches back to 1959 and includes derbies Atletico Madrid have lost in four straight editions of the Champions League from 2014. It is a run that includes two finals.

In 2014, Sergio Ramos equalised in 90+3 to deny Atletico Madrid their first Champions League title. The wait hasn’t ended. In 2016, Real won the final on tie-breakers after Antoine Griezmann missed a penalty in regulation time. Cristiano Ronaldo’s first-leg hattrick made the difference in the 2017 semi-finals. Playing with 10 after Arda Turan’s red card, Atletico Madrid were two minutes of regulation time away from taking the 2015 quarter-finals into extra-time when Javier Hernandez scored.

On Wednesday, it was VAR chalking off Julian Alvarez’s penalty that proved crucial. As Alvarez slipped, his shot had grazed his left foot resulting in a double kick, VAR adjudged. Still, Oblak saved Lucas Vazquez’s penalty to give them a chance. Just Vinicius Jr blasting his 70th minute penalty into the night sky had given them. False dawns.

Marcos Llorente, an academy cadet at Real and whose father and uncle had played for both giants of Madrid, blasted his penalty into the horizontal. Then, like he did against Manchester City last season, Rüdiger scored. Real suffer, Real survive. It was 4-2 on penalties this time. “We lacked a bit of luck,” Oblak told Movistar.

For 11 of his 14 years in charge, Diego Simeone has seen this happen in Europe. On his watch, Atletico Madrid have beaten Real in other competitions, they have won La Liga, Copa del Rey, Europa League and UEFA Super Cup, they have even beaten other teams in Champions League on penalties. It happened last term against Inter Milan. But they have not beaten Real in the Champions League.

Three out of four times, Atletico Madrid have won ties where they had lost the first leg. Connor Gallagher’s stab at Thibaut Courtois’s near post 27 seconds after kick-off was the perfect start. It was also the earliest they had scored in Champions League.

Clément Lenglet hoofed pass led to a poor clearance and Griezmann, Alvarez and Rodrigo de Paul worked the ball towards Real’s goal where Giuliano Simeone smartly took away Raul Asencio creating space for Gallagher. As the Metropolitano bounced, Simeone Sr, hands in pocket looking up, looked the calmest he would all night.

Typical of Atletico Madrid under Simeone, they let Real have the ball but blocked all routes to Oblak’s goal. It is how the 4-4-2 formation moves when out of possession, their powers of concentration as admirable as Sunil Gavaskar’s, that makes Atletico Madrid so tenacious. The club can now spend €75m on Alvarez and €35m on Gallagher but their way of playing – often with 10 outfield players in 20 yards of their penalty box – has not changed.

The game was even till the tie-breaker, said Carlo Ancelotti but Real had six shots in normal time, the least since he returned as manager in 2021. Vinicius Jr was shackled, Kylian Mbappe anonymous before and after he won the penalty – Lenglet embraced him after Eduardo Camavinga, Vinicius Jr and Bellingham had combined to find him — and, not at his sharpest, Jude Bellingham was denied by a well-timed tackle by José Giménez in the 56th.

For most of the time, the red-and-white stripes packed the middle, forced Real to switch to Vinicius Jr who was policed by Giuliano Simeone and Llorente often with help from De Paul. When Rodrygo did open the right in the 75th from a Vinicius Jr pass, Reinildo Mandava sprinted back to take charge of the situation.

“They were defending and trying to find us on the counter,” said Ancelotti.

The impressive Alvarez tested Courtois who had to make seven saves. Ángel Correa could have scored in the 90th but volleyed over. He could have found a teammate in extra-time but Rüdiger made a crucial block. On both occasions, Correa showed brilliant technique in controlling aerial passes with his feet. Alexander Sørloth missed a connection in the first half of extra-time. Approaching penalties, Alvarez weaved through traffic but Federico Valverde got a leg in before he could shoot.

Mbappe, Bellingham, Valverde were on target for Real in the tie-breaker. Sørloth and Correa scored for Atletico.

“Yes, we may not have been able to beat Madrid in the Champions League…but they have had a hard time every time,” said Simeone Sr.

---

---