The quarter-finals of the Champions League will definitely have offered us some crazy scenarios. And this return between Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid is not far from being the best. After being dominated in the first leg in the Spanish capital (2-1), the Germans reversed the situation in front of their yellow wall in a match worthy of a roller coaster (4-2) to challenge PSG, winner of FC Barcelona (1-4), in the semi-final.
The start of the meeting directly set the tone. After a first save from Azpilicueta against his own goal, Alvaro Morata failed to calm the enthusiasm of the German supporters but his little left-footed dive went wide (0-0, 5th).
Griezmann helpless in the face of German fury
The backlash was more than violent for the Colchoneros. In five minutes at the half-hour mark, Edin Terzic’s men completely made up for their deficit from the first leg. Mats Hummels kicked off the hostilities with a formidable outside kick aimed at Julian Brandt, which the German transformed into force against Oblak. (1-0, 34th). In the process, Ian Maatsen performed a very nice number on the left side of the area before deceiving the Atletico goalkeeper with a cross shot on the ground (2-0, 39th).
Things completely reversed at half-time with the Colchoneros visibly invigorated by Diego Simeone’s speech. At the restart, Antoine Griezmann delivered an offering from a corner for Mario Hermoso whose header deflected by Mats Hummels ended up in the back of the net (2-1, 49th). 7 minutes later, Ángel Correa went offside and missed the equalizer by losing his duel against Kobel. It was ultimately only a postponement for the Argentinian who took advantage of a small mix-up in the area to send a powerful strike and, finally, equalize (2-2, 64th). By then, Atletico Madrid had virtually regained their place in the semi-finals.
But this match was far from over. Niclas Füllkrug with an angry header first put the two teams back on an equal footing heading into extra time (3-2, 71st), before, three minutes later, Marcel Sabitzer capsized the yellow wall with a cross shot from the left perfect (4-2, 74th) at the angle of the surface. Surprisingly the last quarter of an hour of the match yielded nothing even though Antoine Griezmann and his teammates pushed until the final moments.
With this completely crazy match, Borussia Dortmund validates its ticket for the semi-finals of the Champions League against PSG. In group play, the Parisians dominated the Germans at Parc des Princes (2-0) before securing a draw (1-1) at Signal Iduna Park.
