After beating Real Madrid 1-0 on the previous date, the Lille won 3-1 at the home of Atlético, who were undefeated in their last 11 home games in the Champions League.
Up an hour, reduced on the scoreboard due to Alexander Sorloth’s lack of judgment, Atlético de Madrid suddenly regretted the tie with a left-footed shot from Edon Zhegrova that bounced off José María Giménez and suffered defeat unexpectedly, condemned by a controversial penalty, amid the disbelief of the red and white team, defeated at home by Lille and faced with an extreme situation in this Champions League.
Nothing would have been as it was had it not been for Sorloth’s sequence of errors, but, above all, for the maximum penalty that no one in the stands understood as punishable. First because the ball visibly hit Aissa Mandi’s hand. Later, because Koke’s kick to André didn’t seem like a big deal. The determination of the referee, Marco Guida, contrasted with the facts. The maximum penalty defeated Simeone’s group.
It was the 77th minute. A blow for Atlético, who played and created chances before to score, even taking the lead in the seventh minute through Julián Álvarez, they felt so dominant and so close to the second goal that they would never have guessed how the match It led to a defeat whose significance is indisputable, apparently of great proportions, but whose real dimension will be known when the competition progresses even further. The next appointment is against PSG in Paris.
Zhegrova in the 61st minute, Jonathan David in the 74th minute and a final one from David himself in the 88th minute turned Atlético’s lead in the first half.
“There are two ways to explain what happened in the game. In this competition, when a team plays and has a number of chances to leave with two or three goals at half-time and is not forceful, this competition does not forgive,” said Diego Simeone, Colchoneros coach.
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