Atlético Madrid qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League by winning Tuesday in Porto (1-3), a flattering result built thanks to its French striker.
Antoine Griezmann, hero of Atlético. It is the French international who, this Tuesday, donned the costume of savior of his team after the early exit of Luis Suarez, on injury, on the Porto field. The French first opened the scoring against the course of the match, on a corner (0-1, 56th) before signing an assist for Angel Correa (0-2, 90th) and also participating in the goal of Rodrigo De Paul (0-3, 90th + 2). FC Porto reduced the score at the very end of the game, on a penalty converted by Sérgio Oliveira (1-3, 90th + 6). This result, combined with the defeat of AC Milan against Liverpool in the other match of the evening (2-1), allows the Madrilenians to extricate themselves alive from this group B with seven points, far behind the English , authors of a faultless (18 pts). Porto, who will regret several missed opportunities before Griezmann’s goal, finished in third position (5 pts) ahead of the Milanese (4 pts).
The evening had started badly for Atlético and his coach Diego Simeone, under pressure after suffering their first defeat of the season at home in La Liga against the promoted Mallorca (2-1), a setback that relegates them to ten points behind the leader of the standings, Real Madrid, which they will face on Sunday. Already weakened in defense by the suspension of Felipe and the injuries of Gimenez and Savic, the Colchoneros lost their main offensive reference from the 13th minute, when Luis Suarez, grimacing, came out on injury while holding his right wrist, where he was wearing already a bandage. His replacement Matheus Cunha got the first big chance of the game. After a destabilizing slalom from Belgian Yannick Carrasco, the Brazilian saw his shot blocked by Portuguese goalkeeper Diogo Costa, who also postponed the recovery of Marcos Llorente (22nd). But Porto then took the ascendancy and threatened the cage of Jan Oblak, who had to apply to block the shots of Colombian Luis Diaz (31st), the Dragons’ top scorer this season, then of Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic (43rd ).
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Between these two actions, Matheus Cunha almost scored against his camp from a corner (41st). The mess of the local team continued in the second period, when Mehdi Taremi, very well served in the full box by Otavio, shot widely over the crossbar of Oblak (47th). The Iranian then lost his duel against Oblak (52nd) despite a very favorable position (52nd). And then the tide turned when Griezmann, until then very little in sight, inherited a ball at the far post to score from a corner (56th). The stake of the match then pushed the players to lose their cool, and several clashes caused the exclusion of Carrasco on the Spanish side (67th), then of Wendell on the Portuguese side (70th). Once again, it was Griezmann who emerged from the fray to serve Correa and offer the break to Atlético (2-0, 90th). De Paul then scored the third Colchoneros by taking a first strike … from the French (3-0, 90th + 2).
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