(Football news) While their Bundesliga colleagues defeated PSV Eindhoven 3-1, Diego Simeone’s team shockingly ousted Inter Milan, the runners-up from the previous year, on penalties in the round of 16.
In the first leg of their last-16 matchup at San Siro, where a lone goal from Marko Arnautovic gave the Serie A champions-elect a narrow lead to the Spanish capital, Atletico were the latest victims of Inter’s staunch defense.
Despite falling 2-0 down on aggregate to a Federico Dimarco effort, Los Rojiblancos hit back almost straight away through Antoine Griezmann before Memphis Depay’s 87th-minute intervention forced extra time and penalties, where Alexis Sanchez, Davy Klaassen and Lautaro Martinez all fluffed their lines from 12 yards to send a delirious Atletico through.
By virtue of their mesmerising comeback on home turf, Simeone’s crop will now participate in the Champions League quarter-finals for the third time in five years, but not since 2016-17 have the Spanish heavyweights progressed further; RB Leipzig (2019-20) and Manchester City (2021-22) have since sent them packing at this point.
However, Atletico de Madrid may have to pursue Champions League glory if they are to return to Europe’s revamped top table for 2024-25, as despite overcoming Villarreal 2-1 in their last La Liga contest on April 1, a patchy spell of top-flight form has left the fourth-placed Rojiblancos just two points better off than Athletic Bilbao with eight games to go.
Only four of the hosts’ last 12 matches in all tournaments have seen Simeone’s team come up trumps, but Atletico have incredibly never suffered a Champions League knockout defeat at the Wanda Metropolitano or their old Vicente Calderon home, prevailing in 10 of those 16 contests and shipping just four goals in the process.
Since a 1-0 group-stage loss to AC Milan in November 2021, Atletico have gone nine Champions League home games without ending up on the losing side – winning each of their last four – suggesting that Dortmund well and truly have their work cut out this week.
Edin Terzic’s troops defied the odds to top the ‘group of death’ with Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle United, though, thus earning a last-16 date with Dutch champions-elect PSV, whose reliable talisman Luuk de Jong rescued a 1-1 draw in the first leg in Eindhoven.
However, a quickfire second-leg finish from Manchester United-owned Jadon Sancho and injury-time strike from Marco Reus saw Dortmund get the job done at home, but the German giants have suffered three successive quarter-final Champions League eliminations since collecting runners-up medals to Bayern Munich in 2013.
Nevertheless, Terzic’s team capitalized on the collapse of their Klassiker opponents over the Easter weekend, winning 2-0 at the Allianz Arena to earn their fifth straight victory in all competitions. Unfortunately, their momentum was halted at the wrong time as they lost 1-0 at home to Stuttgart on Saturday.
With only goal differential separating them from RB Leipzig in fourth place, BVB’s narrow defeat has left them outside of the Champions League spots in the Bundesliga table. Until Wednesday’s matchup with Atletico, whom Dortmund lost 2-0 on Spanish soil in the 2018–19 group stage following a 4-0 thrashing at Signal Iduna Park, BVB cannot prioritize either European glory or a top–four finish.
Also read: Manchester United to make decision over injury prone players
