Atletico Madrid hold off Barca fightback to reach semis

Quarter-final 2nd leg

Atletico Madrid 1-2 FC Barcelona (Agg. 3-2)

Atletico Madrid survived a valiant Barcelona fightback to progress to the Champions League semi-finals 3-2 on aggregate despite losing a thrilling quarter-final second leg 2-1 in Madrid.

With Barca trailing 2-0 from the first leg, Lamine Yamal halved the aggregate deficit with just five minutes on the clock when he slid the ball under Atleti goalkeeper Juan Musso following a loose touch from former Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet.

Nineteen minutes later the tie was level – Ferran Torres latched onto a Dani Olmo pass and drilled a fine left-footed strike into the top corner.

A raucous home crowd was silenced for seven minutes, until Marcos Llorente broke down the right flank and found Ademola Lookman in the box to restore Atleti’s aggregate lead.

Barca should have gone 3-0 up on the night just five minutes earlier, but Musso spread himself to block a diving header from an unmarked Fermin Lopez.

Torres thought he had scored Barca’s third goal 10 minutes into the second half when he met a deflection in the box with a cushioned volley into the top corner, but after a VAR check his effort was ruled out for offside.

The visitors continued to push but, as happened in the first leg last week, were reduced to 10 men when Eric Garcia tripped Atleti striker Alexander Sorloth as he raced onto a through ball.

Barcelona threw everyone forward and went close through headers from Robert Lewandowski and Ronald Araujo, but were unable to produce what would have been one of the most memorable comebacks in Champions League history.

Atleti will face either Arsenal or Sporting CP in the semi-finals as they look to reach the final for the first time since 2016.

Atleti’s intentions were clear hours before kick-off; make Barcelona as uncomfortable as possible both on the pitch and off it.

The home fans played their role to perfection, with thousands welcoming the team bus outside the Estadio Metropolitano with pyrotechnics and smoke bombs before creating a deafening atmosphere inside.

A banner held up behind one goal read: ‘Lucha por tu Camiseta’, meaning ‘fight for your shirt’. The players did exactly that.

Diego Simeone’s side did not look flustered by Yamal’s early opener, nor were they panicked when Barcelona levelled the tie with 65 minutes remaining.

Had Fermin made it 3-0 on the night and completed a remarkable first-half remontada, perhaps things would have been different. As it was, Musso saved and inadvertently caught the Barcelona midfielder with his studs to produce a nasty gash on his face.

The hosts stuck to their gameplan of hitting Barcelona with quick transitions, and after Lookman and Antoine Griezmann wasted presentable chances, the former stole a yard on Jules Kounde and coolly converted Llorente’s whipped cross to spark bedlam in the stands.

Former Everton and Leicester man Lookman, who won the 2024 Europa League final for Atalanta with a hat-trick, has enjoyed a superb start to life in Madrid since arriving in January.

Simeone, so often the man to get swept up in the moment, did not join in the celebrations as he gestured for everybody to calm down.

Atleti rode their luck at times in the second half and there is no denying the red card helped them, but they could have also scored themselves through Robin Le Normand and Julian Alvarez.

At the full-time whistle the collective emotional release was clear to see, not least from Koke, club captain and the only player remaining from the heartbreaking final defeat to Real Madrid in 2014.

He and Griezmann started the 2016 final as well, which ended in penalty shootout defeat to Los Blancos.

For Atleti, the bridesmaids of the Champions League, perhaps their time has finally come.

Barcelona knew they needed to start fast, to try and quiet the frenzied home crowd if not only to give themselves confidence that they could achieve the seemingly impossible.

Only once before had a team overcome a two-goal deficit after losing the first leg of a Champions League knockout tie at home to progress to the next round.

Manchester United did so against Paris Saint-Germain in 2018-19, and for a while it looked like Barca might repeat the feat.

Yamal set the tone inside the opening 35 seconds when he drove through the middle of the pitch and forced Musso into a low fingertip save.

When Torres made it 2-0 it felt inevitable that Hansi Flick’s side would pull it off. But no sooner had defender Eric Garcia pumped the air in jubilation, Atleti found their opponent’s Achilles heel.

Barca’s high line was caught out by a sudden turnover in possession, with Kounde caught on his heels and unable to stop Lookman from reaching Llorente’s low cross.

The visitors began the second half camped on the edge of the Atleti box, and celebrated wildly when Torres reacted quickly to cushion a volley into the top corner. But replays showed he was a yard offside, and VAR intervened.

Barcelona pushed hard, but when Garcia committed the same offense as team-mate Pau Cubarsi did in the first leg and received the same punishment, a comeback seemed a step too far.

After suffering an agonising semi-final defeat to Inter Milan last season, Barca’s wait for a first final appearance since 2015 will last at least another year.

Tonight’s other Champions League result:

• Liverpool 0-2 Paris Saint Germain (Agg. 0-4)