Atlético de Madrid overthrow Inter on penalties and advance to the quarters, Dortmund also passes

Atlético de Madrid, forced to win against Inter, had to wait for the penalty shootout to qualify and join Dortmund, winner of PSV Eindhoven, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

In an evening full of suspense, Atlético de Madrid and Dortmund qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Wednesday March 13. Forced to win after a 1-0 defeat in the first leg against Inter, Diego Simeone’s men gave themselves a chance by winning 2-1 in regulation time, before concluding on penalties ( 3-2). BVB also held their own against PSV, with a sober 2-0 victory, after a 1-1 draw in the first leg in the Netherlands.

Without competition in the league, Inter had armed itself with a solid defensive block, in the hope of containing the enthusiasm of the Colchoneros and their transcended audience. But Federico Dimarco came to dampen Atléti’s hopes by concluding a remarkable internal counterattack, found behind by Nicolo Barella (0-1, 33rd). Antoine Griezmann responded immediately with a pivotal shot, well served by his captain Koke and helped by Benjamin Pavard’s blunder (1-1, 35th). Koke decided to put on a layer at the very end of the match to offer a copied and pasted pass with this time Memphis Depay to go for extra time (2-1, 87th). Efforts rewarded by a penalty shootout mastered by the Cholo men, less by those of Simone Inzaghi (3-2 on the tab).

Griezmann’s profitable return

Back after his ankle injury suffered in the first leg, Antoine Griezmann was able to guide his team for 106 minutes, before leaving his place at the start of extra time. Time for him to score his sixth goal in the Champions League, which places him tied with Erling Haaland, Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappé at the top of the ranking of the best C1 directors.

The Frenchman only returned to team training on Monday, but he was crucial for the Madrid attack, delivering three key passes and two shots on target. He even almost put his name on the scoreboard a second time (42nd and 53rd), or turned into a decisive passer for Rodrigo Riquelme who did not target his shot at the end of added time (90th + 3).

Facing him stood Yann Sommer, author of seven saves on Wednesday evening. The Swiss started his show against Samuel Lino (5th), before continuing in front of Alvaro Morata (28th), then against the darling of Didier Deschamps (38th, 53rd). Not to be outdone, his counterpart on the colchonero side made four saves, including a sublime double save against Marcus Thuram on Inter’s first lightning counter (13th). But Jan Oblak’s real hour of glory was much later, when he stopped the penalties of Alexis Sanchez and then Davy Klaassen, to give Angel Correa the chance to score the winning penalty.

Dortmund guided in quarters by Sancho

Launched by a fiery Jadon Sancho, Borussia Dortmund shook less than Diego Simeone’s men against PSV. At least in the first half. The English international was responsible for opening the scoring with a whipped shot that skimmed the near post from the edge of the area (1-0, 3rd), before collecting the chances alongside Donyell Malen. Opposite, another winger sounded the revolt: Johan Bakayoko. The young Belgian forced BVB goalkeeper Gregor Kobel to perform miracles (31st, 55th, 71st), before Marco Reus doubled the lead for his team, alone against Walter Benitez after a slip from Isaac Babadi (2- 0.90e+5).