CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – Antoine Griezmann sends Atlético to eighth, Porto and Milan frustrated

Atlético de Madrid have qualified for the knockout stages of the 2021-2022 Champions League! On the lawn of FC Porto, the Matelassiers won in a very tense meeting and ended ten against ten (3-1). Thanks to goals from Antoine Griezmann, Angel Correa and Rodrigo De Paul, Diego Simeone’s men also took advantage of AC Milan’s defeat on home turf against Liverpool to overtake the Lombards and settle in second place. this group of death which will have kept all its promises until the final denouement. For its part, Porto will console themselves by being third in the group and transferred to the Europa League.

There were many doubts to evacuate for the Madrilenians at the start of this meeting. Last in the group before the last day and beaten at home by Real Mallorca in the league this weekend, the reigning Spanish champion would experience a first tile in this match in Portugal where victory was imperative for qualification: the injury of Luis Suarez, replaced by Matheus Cunha (13th). In tears, El Pistolero attended from the sidelines a first hot opportunity of the game when Marcos Llorente called on Diogo Costa (22nd). On the other side of the pitch, Luis Diaz forced Jan Oblak to have a huge save (37th) and Thomas Lemar was on the verge of scoring against his camp (39th). More sovereign in the game, the Dragons gave the cover at the start of the second period but Mehdi Taremi did not take advantage of Otavio’s offering to frame his shot (47th).

Griezmann makes the difference, Oblak determining

Decisive during the game, Oblak again stood out in front of Taremi to push back the attempt of the Iranian international (51st). For just under an hour, Atlético occupied the last place in this group but on a corner, Lemar hit with enough precision to find Antoine Griezmann at the far post and allow his French teammate to open the scoring. facing the goal left empty (56th, 0-1). Once in front, Atlético missed the break following a rescue from Pepe on his line (60th) then the visitors suffered a rise in local pressure and Yannick Ferreira-Carrasco was excluded for a gesture of mood on Otavio (67th). Only, the Lusitanians will not take advantage of their numerical superiority for long, Wendell being in turn excluded for a nudge given to Cunha (71st).

After a slight calm in this bitter and contested duel, the suspense collapsed in added time: scorer on the first goal, Griezmann threw Correa to allow the entrant to adjust Costa and double the stake ( 90th, 0-2). The last minutes were completely crazy: Rodrigo De Paul scored a third goal (92nd, 0-3) and Sérgio Oliveira saved the honor from the penalty spot (96th, 1-3). But despite this goal conceded at the end of the game, the Madrilenians were able to warmly celebrate this qualification without forgetting to thank Oblak, real hero of the evening. Now that Atlético is out of the hell of the Dragon Stadium, playing them in the round of 16 will be a nice poisoned gift.