Champions League: Atlético Madrid holds off Barça and qualifies for the semi-finals

On Tuesday, Barcelona faced Antoine Griezmann’s Atlético Madrid (2-1), returning to the Champions League semi-finals with the hope of going further.

According to their coach Hansi Flick, Barça “didn’t need a miracle,” simply a “perfect match.”

In the end, it was merely a good performance, then completely ruined by a 13th red card in the last ten years in the Champions League, this time for Eric Garcia (79th minute), which crushed Barcelona’s hopes. The reigning Spanish champions can certainly boast, as in the first leg, of having been better than their opponents that evening, who were once again ruthlessly efficient. But it wasn’t enough, just as in 2014, as in 2016, and as in early March, in the Copa del Rey semi-final (4-0 defeat in the first leg, 3-0 victory in the second). It seems this Atlético side, back in the semi-finals for the first time since 2017, is the kryptonite of the Catalan giant, the team that best manages to punish their ultra-attacking approach.

– Another punishment – The same approach that could have paid off as early as the 32nd second of the game, were it not for an initial save by Argentinian goalkeeper Juan Musso against the Catalan prodigy Lamine Yamal, who was brilliant but then not sufficiently supported to pull off the feat (1st minute).

Unfazed by the stakes, nor by the pressure weighing on his shoulders, the 18-year-old winger launched his mission just three minutes later with a goal he earned all by himself, like a true champion, at the feet of French defender Clément Lenglet, after a one-two with Ferran Torres (4th minute, 1-0).

A dream start for the young left-footer, who came agonizingly close to providing the assist for Dani Olmo, were it not for a good save from Juan Musso (9th minute), before Griezmann responded with a first-time shot with the outside of his left foot that was blocked by Gerard Martin (22nd minute).
The few thousand Catalan fans who had made the trip surely thought they had witnessed a remarkable comeback just seconds later, when Olmo perfectly set up Ferran Torres, who leveled the score with a superb left-footed finish (24th minute, 2-0). Everything was then wide open again, and Atlético Madrid, on the verge of being knocked out in the very next attack, were saved once more by Musso, who denied Fermin Lopez a third goal, and by Yamal with another decisive strike with the outside of his left foot, which has become his trademark (25th minute). Hit in the face by an accidental blow from the Atlético Madrid goalkeeper, the young Spanish midfielder remained on the ground for several minutes, his nose bleeding, before returning to the pitch, which somewhat disrupted Barcelona’s momentum.

Just when they thought they had done the hard part, Hansi Flick’s men, despite being well-prepared for this sixth encounter of the season against Diego Simeone’s side, were once again pierced in two passes by Griezmann’s vision and the speed of Marcos Llorente and Ademola Lookman, clinical in reducing the deficit and restoring his team’s lead (30th minute, 2-1).