Borussia Dortmund qualified for the semifinals of the Champions League after beating Atlético de Madrid 4-2 at the Signal Iduna Park in a match of many alternatives that Atlético managed to draw 2-0 against, but finally lost .
Julian Brandt, in the 34th minute, and Ian Maatsen, in the 39th minute, scored the two goals for the locals and made it 2-0 with which the first half concluded. In the second half, Hummels made it 2-1 with an own goal (49th minute) and Correa made it 2-2 in the 65th minute.
When it seemed that Atlético had the match under control, Fullkrug, with a header, scored 3-2 in the 71st minute and Sabitzer scored the final 4-2 in the 73rd minute. Borussia Dortmund qualified for the semi-finals by an aggregate of 5-4.
Atlético has increasingly recurring nightmares in this European tournament, in which it has not reached the semifinals for seven years, in which it suddenly aims for high levels, but falls when it is least expected. The first part of him at the Metropolitano was not enough for him. Neither did his reaction in the second half at Signal Iduna Park. The German team took better advantage of its moments in the tie than the red and white team, tremendously vulnerable this Tuesday.
Minute 4. With 40 meters ahead without opposition, Morata began the race towards the goal, agile in his driving, facing goalkeeper Kobel and fatal in his definition: he chipped the ball over the goalkeeper, who did not even need to intervene. His shot, very strong, just like the opportunity, represented the striker’s moment: a goal in his last 16 attempts.
In games of such dimension, so tight, with so much at stake, so definitive, every opportunity is vital, even more so in the harsh landscape that Atlético faced throughout the first stretch in the old Westfalenstadion. The regret of that moment was recurring until half-time, until the team’s reaction and the emergence of Correa, along with Riquelme and Barrios since half-time, changed everything. From 2-0 to 2-2. Then, at 4-2. Unaffordable.
The German team initially lacked punch. A relief for Atlético, who at first did not limit themselves to waiting for him. Then he went backwards, step by step, minute by minute, when he competed more backwards than forwards throughout the entire journey until the intermission. A problem, above all, because he barely played in the opposing zone, where he moves best.
The beginning was fiery, voracious, crazy. Not only because of the German block, at a disadvantage from the first leg, launched into the counterattack by a loss by Morata on the edge of the other area that aroused Dortmund’s vertigo: Brandt, Adeyemi, Sabitzer, alone in the area, alone for the easy shot… And Azpilicueta, today a winger, always a defender. Miraculous when the local score was 1-0.
Providential the crossing of the European champion with Chelsea, survivors Oblak and his teammates, still frightened by a tremendous scare, Morata’s immediate response hid everything that would come upon Atlético later, especially overwhelmed by the space between Molina and Witsel. That’s where Brandt emerged, Adeyemi or Sancho ran, depending on the moment, and Maatsen burst in. The wound was felt. Then it opened.
Adeyemi warned. Also Brandt. They were not a goal because each shot went into Oblak’s hands. Even Atlético still allowed itself some exit, some response beyond its midfield, nothing out of this world, but some gesture of offensive life. Withdrawn more and more, Dortmund did get it right, in the same place where they visualized everything on the board and on the field, on that right flank of the red and white defense that then failed.
In the 34th minute, Brandt made it 1-0. Hummels spotted him entering the area. His pass with the outside went past part of the structure, dynamited by the cross shot of the midfielder that Jan Oblak could not stop either. Equal eliminatory. Four minutes later, with almost no time to accept it, the blow was even greater: Maatsen’s 2-0, on the same side, with similar characteristics, with Molina not knowing how and where his rival entered.
In the fall, already evident, there was no excuse for anyone in Atlético. Nor for Simeone, whose plan, functional initially, later inoperative, had been surpassed by Dortmund. Simeone knew it, who maneuvered in the intermission. Molina out, Llorente to the right lane, Barrios to the middle. Azpilicueta was also out, for Riquelme. And Morata was out, with a defeat on the scoreboard, to give way to Correa. Decisions. Necessary. Correct.
An outstanding movement by Correa; much more presence in the opposing field; the rises of Riquelme, the interventions of Barrios and a corner kick from which Atlético re-emerged… It was not a good corner, nor was it an inconclusive shot from Hermoso, which meekly headed towards the hands of Kobel, until Hummels intervened ( 2-1).
Once the match had clearly turned, when Atlético and Simeone really looked face to face with Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park, Correa was overwhelming. Unpredictable as always, capable of missing a called goal, with a horrible shot against Kobel, amidst the desperation of his coach, thrown to the ground, but also of scoring 2-2 in the 64th with a volley, after a rebound, after a stop from Kobel to Riquelme. Even that wasn’t enough.
In a true Russian roulette, Atlético found itself suddenly eliminated again, thanks to Sabitzer and Fullkrug. The midfielder put the score at 3-2 on the head of the German scorer, in the 71st minute, with an extraordinary header at the other post. Moments later, Sabitzer took a left-footed shot between a forest of visiting legs that ended up going inside. The 4-2. Oblak saved the fifth, the red and white team insisted until the end, but it stayed there. Out of the semi-finals.
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