MADRID.- Almost a decade later, the Atlético de Madrid will play a semi-final Champions despite losing this Tuesday 2-1 against a Barcelona which ended with ten players, in the quarter-final second leg of the continental tournament.
Barça came back from 2-0 down in the first leg with goals from Lamine Yamal (4′) and Ferran Torres (24′), but the goal Ademola Lookman (31′) gave Atlético a pass to the next round.
The Barça club was hampered in the last ten minutes by the expulsion of Eric Garcia (79′).
Atlético de Madrid will meet in the semifinals with the winner of the tie that will be played on Wednesday Arsenal and the Sporting of Portugal in London (1-0 in the first leg for the Gunners).
The red and whites had not been to the Champions League semi-finals since 2017, when they lost to the real Madridultimately winner of the tournament.
The men of Diego Simeoneincidentally, they are filled with morale for the final of the King’s Cup who will play on Saturday against the Royal Society.
Yamal opens the account
Atlético suffered again to earn the pass against a Barcelona for which the genius of the young Yamal was not enough.
Just four minutes of play were enough for him to open the scoring as Barça stormed off in search of a comeback.
Yamal took advantage of a mistake Clement Lenglet to run into the area and beat the goalkeeper one-on-one Juan Musso (4′).
The Argentine goalkeeper had already taken a saving hand in the first minute on a first shot from the young Barça striker.
Yamal was once again a nightmare for Atlético’s defense, but his genius on the edge of the area and his precise passes to the Barcelona attackers were not enough.
Barcelona’s harassment had its reward when Dani Olmo He leaked a ball on the edge of the area to Torres, who turned to make it 2-0 (24′).
Ferran could have had the third on the stroke of half-time in a similar play, but this time he found Musso (41).
Lookman to the rescue
Barça had managed to do the most difficult thing, balancing the tie, until Atlético reacted half an hour into the game.
The French Antoine Griezmann opened for the race Marcos Llorente on the right to reach the area and put the ball to the other side, where Lookman arrived to make it 2-1 (31′).
Barça returned from the break ready to lift the game, locking Atlético in their area.
The rojiblancos barely managed to leave their field in the first half hour of the second half.
Atlético suffered until the expulsion of García, Barça’s most effective defender up to that point.
The defender pushed Atlético’s Norwegian forward, Alexander Sorlothknocking him down when he was running alone towards the rival goal, which the referee sanctioned with a red card after a VAR review (79′).
The play was reminiscent of what happened in the first leg, in which the Barça defender was also sent off. Pau Cubarsisanctioned for this Wednesday’s match.
With one less, Barcelona threw themselves in desperation, locking up Atlético, who dedicated themselves to bailing out the ball during the eight-minute extension of the match.
The Uruguayan Ronald Araújo He had one last header near the goal near the end, but he didn’t hit the goal (90+7′).
PSG defeats Liverpool again
He Paris Saint-Germainwith his black kit, condemned the Liverpool to a blank year. After 2-0 in the first leg, the men of Luis Enriquecurrent champions of Europethey lived up to their status by beating the Reds again at Anfield this Tuesday in the Champions League quarterfinals (2-0).
As they did last season, in which they ended up lifting the first Orejona in their history, PSG gets ready in the spring when the knockout rounds of the most prestigious European competition arrive.
PSG played a serious match against the current champion of the Premier Leaguein which its star Mohamed Salah He was a substitute – he came out in the 30th minute due to the Frenchman’s injury Hugo Ekitike-, and now awaits a rival in the semifinals, which will be known on Wednesday at the end of the Bayern Munich-Real Madrid (2-1 in the first leg for the Germans).
The two goals under the rainy night in Liverpool were the work of Ballon d’Or, Ousmane Dembele; first with a left-footed shot from the crescent of the area (72′), before completing a Parisian counterattack into an empty goal after a pass from Bradley Barcola (90+1′).
