Atletico Madrid Ends Liverpool's Reign, PSG Ousts Dortmund in Champions League
Defending champion Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, while Paris Saint-Germain overcame a first-leg deficit to beat Borussia Dortmund to reach the quarterfinal stage.
Liverpool at one stage led 2-0 but ended up suffering its first European defeat at Anfield since 2014, the victims of a barely explicable Atletico performance, a classic Diego Simeone heist.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Liverpool leveled the tie on aggregate through Georgino Wijnaldum's header just before halftime. It dominated from there but failed to find a second until Roberto Firmino’s strike four minutes into extra-time. Just three minutes later, Marcos Llorente capitalized on an Adrian error to put Atletico ahead on away goals. The substitute added a second at the end of the first half of extra time to make it 2-2 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate. Alvaro Morata wrapped it up in injury-time of the second half to finish off the Reds on a 4-2 aggregate triumph.
In an empty Parc des Princes in Paris, first-half goals from PSG's Neymar and Juan Bernat turned the balance of the tie before halftime, and whatever hope Dortmund might have had of forcing the tie into extra time disappeared with two minutes to go as Emre Can received a second caution in a melee that followed a foul on Neymar, and he was promptly sent off.
Here are three thoughts on the day in the Champions League, with half of the quarterfinal field now set following RB Leipzig and Atalanta's advancement on Tuesday:
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Last-16 relief for PSG
PSG survived another round and in the oddly manic celebrations at the end was a profound sense of relief. With yet another French title in the grasp, the Champions League is its only testing ground, as has been the case in the nine years its Qatari owners have run the club. But this was also arguably its best performance in the second leg of a Champions league knockout tie, albeit it against oddly flaky opponents and amid the eerie atmosphere of a game played behind closed doors.
The fear for Dortmund after the first leg had been that it might regret not having won more comfortably when it had the opportunities, and so it proved. Neymar broke the deadlock after 28 minutes, diving to head in Angel Di Maria’s corner. It was a decent delivery and a fine finish, but Dortmund’s marking was abysmal, with Achraf Hakimi standing and watching as the Brazilian darted in front of him. Neymar and Di Maria were at the heart of the second as well, working an opening for Pablo Sarabia on the right. He crossed low and Juan Bernat guided the ball in at the far post with a deft touch.
Whether this was enough to believe that PSG can win the competition is another matter. It was PSG’s best performance in the Champions League since the win over Madrid at the beginning of the group stage, but this was a hugely disappointing one from Dortmund. Memories of the limp first leg will not easily be banished.
And this is PSG, so there were of course self-inflicted issues. First, Di Maria was booked for dissent long after being substituted, ruling him out of the first leg of the quarterfinal. Then the majority of the squad, although not Edinson Cavani, followed Neymar’s lead in mocking Erling Braut Haaland’s meditation goal celebration, a weirdly classless gesture from a club to which dignity has rarely come easily.
Atletico Madrid's art of defending
Defending isn’t much in fashion these days, but what Atletico Madrid was able to do at Anfield was an example of how it can still–somehow–work.
To hail it as a masterclass would be misleading–Liverpool had 27 shots in normal time and on another day, when Jan Oblak wasn't so prolific in net, would have won easily–but Atletico had the organization to keep good chances to a minimum and the resilience to keep going, keep enduring.
Yes, it required good fortune with Adrian's extra-time error and then the slightly unconvincing defending for Llorente’s second goal, but that’s what a good rearguard can do to an opponent; it can get in its head, it can force errors. Atletico has been poor by its standards this season, and at the moment isn’t even in the top four in La Liga, but Champions League success doesn’t always go to sides at the high points of their cycles. And in this season, when nobody seems quite at its best, Atletico might just be able to end its long wait for a Champions League title.
An epic season with a limp ending for Liverpool
Coronavirus permitting, Liverpool will win the Premier League in the next couple of weeks. That will leave it, in one of its best campaigns ever, with nothing to play for over the final two months of the season. To win the league title after 30 years, possibly with a record points total, and add the Club World Cup means this cannot be anything but a glorious season, but this is an anti-climactic end.
Liverpool was much sharper, much livelier than it had been in the first leg in Madrid, creating more chances, having more shots and getting more crosses into dangerous areas. The breakthrough came three minutes before halftime. Throughout the half, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain had pulled wide to the right to create overloads with Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold. That created the opportunity for a cross, hit quickly on the turn, and Wijnaldum’s downward header skidded off the turf past Oblak.
The second half represented probably Liverpool’s best performance since the second half of the 4-0 win at Leicester on Boxing Day. But Oblak made a series of fine saves, Andy Robertson headed against the bar and Roberto Firmino kept misfiring in front of goal. Somehow, Atletico held on for extra time, a combination of fine defending and goalkeeping, poor finishing and luck.
When Firmino scored four minutes into extra time, knocking in the rebound after his header had come back of the post–his first goal at Anfield and his first in the Champions League this season–Liverpool for the first time had the lead in the tie. But within three minutes Atletico was back ahead on away goals, thanks to a dreadful error from Adrian, who first scuffed a clearance straight to Joao Felix and then slipped as Llorente’s low shot bounced past him.
It soon got even worse, a seemingly unthreatening break ending with Llorente tucking a low shot past Adrian from the edge of the box, a classic smash and grab aided and abetted by a reserve goalkeeper. There's no telling where Liverpool might be were Alisson fit, but there's no sense in wallowing over it. There will be a celebration for Liverpool yet, followed by an odd spectator's role for the rest of the European season after reaching the last two Champions League finals.
