Atletico Madrid reached the quarterfinals of the Champions League following a 3-2 penalty shoot-out victory over Bayer Leverkusen, after a 1-1 aggregate draw at the Vicente Calderon on Tuesday night.
Mario Suarez netted after 27 minutes to hand the hosts the lead on the night but with no other score to follow in normal time, the match went to extra-time and penalties thanks to the German side's 1-0 first-leg lead.
Stefan Kiessling missed Bayer's decisive spot-kick as their opponents went through.
Mario Mandzukic started in place of Fernando Torres for the Spanish champions, with the on-loan AC Milan striker dropped to the bench as they aimed to turn things around following defeat in Germany.
The hosts had a half-chance early on before the Leverkusen defence made light work of it as Atleti pressed forward with a corner moments later, but Koke's inswinging effort from the left was well cleared by Roberto Hilbert before visiting goalkeeper Bernd Leno kept out Koke's next attempt.
Diego Simeone's men won a free-kick after 15 minutes, taken by Koke 30 yards out. The Spain forward managed to lift the ball over the opposing wall of defenders but Leno had it under control as he coolly kept it out with an easy catch.
Down at the other end of the pitch, seconds later, Bayer could have taken the lead from a corner in their first real chance of the game but Mandzukic toe-poked Son Heung-min's strong effort clear.
Midway through the first half, Atletico suffered a blow as goalkeeper Miguel Moya sustained what looked like a hamstring injury as he made a diving save and had to be replaced by 22-year-old Slovenian Jan Oblak.
The hosts finally got the reward for their early dominance after first winning the battle of the headers. Ruben Cani's header finally came to ground and Suarez pounced on the ball just outside the 18-yard box and sent it past a diving Leno into the bottom corner -- taking a deflection off Omer Toprak on the way in.
Mandzukic came close to doubling Atleti's lead on the half-hour before Antoine Griezmann's free-kick went straight into the wall minutes later, while Suarez fired a long-range effort wide and Cani's header went over the crossbar as the home side searched for a second goal.
Meanwhile, Oblak did well to hold out a threatening chance from Bayer just before the break, diving forward at full-stretch to collect Josip Drmic's goal-bound shot and deny an equaliser.
The home side came out with more determination as the second half got under way and tried to break down the visiting defence from the start, while Hakan Calhanoglu tested Oblak at the other end, with Bayer sending out a statement the tie was still wide open.
Leno did well to punch Koke's corner clear just before the hour mark before Oblak was called into action again in the Atleti goal as he comfortably caught Karim Bellarabi's long-range effort.
The hosts won a free-kick 35 yards out with just over 20 minutes remaining but Lars Bender managed to get his head onto Koke's effort before Leno tipped it around his post.
Leverkusen started to push for a short spell but the home defence thwarted any of their half-chances to score before they became a real threat.
Leno was called into action after 80 minutes and he did well to keep out a powerful Turan shot, diving to defend his line in a moment of panic before Emir Spahic booted the ball to safety.
Both sides began to dig deep as they searched for a late winner with Kiessling firing over for the away side, while Simeone brought on Torres to give his troops some fresh firepower before the match went to extra-time.
Kiessling was first to threaten for the visitors but Oblak was well placed to keep him out, while Raul Garcia almost stole it for last year's losing finalists but his long-range effort went wide.
With time running out, Simon Rolfes drilled a shot past the post while down at the other end of the pitch, Leno held out Torres' header as penalties approached.
Garcia sent his effort over the bar for Atleti before Calhanoglu tapped his poor effort kick to Oblak.
The next three -- by Griezmann, Rolfes and Suarez -- were all fired into the top right corner as the hosts led 2-1 with Toprak's effort going over before Leno saved Koke's shot -- with Gonzalo Castro finally levelling for Bayer.
Torres made no mistake as he struck the fifth spot-kick into the bottom corner as Kiessling's miss handed Atletico the victory.
Monaco v Arsenal
Arsenal won 2-0 in Monaco in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 clash but couldn't recover from defeat at the Emirates three weeks ago, going out on away goals after drawing 3-3 on aggregate.
Olivier Giroud put the Gunners in front in the 36th minute but they struggled to create clear-cut openings before Aaron Ramsey doubled their advantage 11 minutes from time.
Arsene Wenger's side piled on the pressure as the clock ticked down but couldn't force a third goal which would have taken them through against the odds.
After a slow start, Giroud headed a half-chance wide after 13 minutes. Arsenal were lacking a spark as Monaco, who had not conceded a single goal in their three home Champions League group stage games earlier this season, happily took the tempo out of the match.
Giroud, who had missed several chances in the first leg, grabbed a lifeline for the visitors with a well-taken finish nine minutes before half-time.
Monaco continued to ride their luck as Arsenal pressed, with Mesut Ozil's free-kick tipped over at the start of the second half.
The game then opened up as Arsenal committed men forwards, and finally reduced the arrears further through substitute Ramsey after 79 minutes.
There was, though, to be no miracle of Monte Carlo as Monaco goalkeeper Danijel Subasic denied a late header from Sanchez to end Arsenal's European dreams at the last-16 stage once again -- and leave Arsene Wenger's men counting the cost of conceding a stoppage-time third goal at the Emirates Stadium.
England forward Danny Welbeck started in support of Sanchez and main striker Giroud, with Theo Walcott again on the bench as manager Wenger named an attacking side on his return to the club he led to the French league championship in 1988.
Despite Arsenal's positive intentions, they remained vulnerable on the counter-attack, with Joao Moutinho curling an early 20-yard effort over following a quick break by the home side.
Officially only around 1,500 Arsenal fans had made the journey to the French Riviera, but given tickets were put on general sale, there were more than double that around the Stade Louis II.
Arsenal, though, struggled to find any sort of early flow as Monaco slowed the tempo, which suited the game of veteran former Tottenham and Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov.
As the quarter-hour mark approached, Arsenal full-back Hector Bellerin got away down the right and whipped the ball into the six-yard box, from which Giroud glanced just wide.
Arsenal centre-half Laurent Koscielny cannoned the ball up against the crossbar from close range after a deep free-kick into the Monaco penalty area, but the offside flag was raised.
Arsenal continued to look for an opening, but were frustrated by some solid defending from the hosts as the game.
The breakthrough finally came after 36 minutes. After left-back Nacho Monreal had done well to keep the ball in on the far side, Danny Welbeck darted into the penalty area.
The loose ball fell for Giroud, and his shot was saved but cannoned up against his face, with the French striker alert to sweep in the rebound.
Arsenal almost grabbed a quickfire second when Welbeck's fierce, low shot hit Aymen Abdennour on the inside of his leg as the defender was sprawled on the ground.
Sanchez was shown a yellow card by Norwegian referee Svein Oddvar Moen for tumbling in the penalty area as Nabil Dirar touched him on the back.
In first-half stoppage-time, Welbeck's low cross from the right flicked up off Giroud's knee and into the grateful arms of goalkeeper Subasic.
The Croatian was in the right place again at the start of the second half to acrobatically tip over a curling 20-yard free-kick from Ozil.
Although Monaco did not need to score, they still carried a threat on the counter as Arsenal pressed a high line.
Wenger made a positive change after 63 minutes as Ramsey replaced holding midfielder Francis Coquelin.
Ozil flashed a low drive wide as Arsenal again created a good opening which lacked a telling finish.
With 20 minutes left and two goals still needed, Welbeck was replaced by Walcott.
Arsenal's pressure finally told when Ramsey made it 2-0 with 11 minutes left. Monreal darted into the left side of the Monaco penalty area, before cutting the ball back to Walcott, whose low shot came back off the base of the post.
Layvin Kurzawa should have cleared but stabbed the ball to Ramsey, who cracked it into the bottom left corner to set up a grandstand finale.
Subasic clawed Sanchez's close-range header off the line, but despite pouring forward during five minutes of stoppage-time, Arsenal were again left to reflect on what might have been.
The Monaco bench celebrated wildly as the principality club reached a first Champions League quarter-final since 2003-04.
No comments:
Post a Comment