I had mentioned in my preview of the Barcelona-Atletico tie that the contest between Atletico and Barcelona would be between the former’s solid defence and the latter’s fluent attackers, and whoever played their part to the ‘ T ‘ would win the 1st leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter final.
A Determined Atletico Madrid
Barcelona had the massive advantage of playing at Camp Nou and were the clear favourites, but a more determined and hungry Atletico Madrid turned up at Camp Nou last night and stunned the Catalans in their backyard.
Raphina Missed
As usual, Barcelona dominated proceedings but were unable to break down Atletico’s impregnable defence. Raphina was missed, I would say. To compound issues, Pau Cubarsi was sent off in the 44th minute for bringing down G Simeone, reducing the Catalans to 10 men and half of the match still left.
Brilliant From Julian Alvarez
Julian Alvarez took the resultant free-kick and nailed a brilliant curler into the Barca net. It was an imperious strike from the Argentine which silenced the completely sold out Camp Nou.
READ Barcelona & Atletico Clash In UEFA CL QF 1st Leg Tonight
Atletico had the lead, and though Marcus Rashford hit the crossbar, Barcelona were unable to make decisive inroads into the Atletico defence. As the clock hit the 70th minute mark, Atletico doubled the lead through Alexander Sørloth, who deposited a fine volley from an inch-perfect Mateo Ruggeri cross.
Blaugrana Beaten
With two goals down, it was hard for Barcelona to come back with a man short. Atletico, under the watchful eye of Diego Simeone, just shut shop completely and ensured a memorable 2-0 win over the Blaugrana as a pensive Hansi Flick looked on.
Barcelona, though, are not out of the competition, but it will take some getting for the Catalans to come back and beat Atletico at the Metropolitano in Madrid next week.
No wonder Atletico have cracked open the Champions League Semifinal door. Is there an upset in the making?.
We shall find out next week.
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