The English team, which had won 1-0 in the first leg, will play in the semifinals against Real Madrid (Spain).
The other team that got a ticket to the semis was Liverpool (England), who drew 3-3 at home with Benfica (Portugal) and took advantage of 3-1 in the first leg. His rival will be Villarreal (Spain), who left behind the powerful Bayern Munich, from Germany.
Simeone appealed to put together a strong defensive device to get out of the counterattack quickly, but the distinctive point was in the “psychological”: the “Cholo” soaked his leaders in South American ways and manners, since the “Colchoneros” played it as if it were a Copa Libertadores match.
Rubbing, shoving, some blows and a lot of verbal and football arrogance tipped the balance in favor of Atlético, who erased City from the field in the second half.
From the beginning Simeone put three center backs and overcrowded the midfield with five midfielders, although the Frenchman Antoine Griezmann had to split between attacking and acting as a sixth midfielder, covering the rises of Joao Cancelo and Gundogan.
This detail highlighted Simeone’s defensive device to the point that Joao Félix was waiting in the middle of the pitch. The idea of the Argentine technical director was that, when recovering the ball, they would go out quickly with the Portuguese and the French.
On the side of Pep Guardiola, DT of the visitor, the idea was that his midfielders and full-backs unfolded Atlético’s defensive scheme, leaving Foden free to create and break the defense, while Bernardo Silva and Mahrez tried not to give references to the “mattress” defenders.
In the second half the “Aleti” came out more determined and moved forward as a block so as not to be long, and Griezmann and Félix began to appear, until City neutralized him and tried to get to and make the always sober Jann Oblak work.
The “Cholo”, then, appealed to the Argentine claw and sent De Paul and Correa to the field, who created several opportunities but also emotionally imposed themselves on the English. In the absence of ten minutes Luis Suárez also entered.
The game got rough: Felipe and Savic hit the shifty Foden for the umpteenth time and there was an uproar. The referee expelled Felipe.
Driven by their fans, Atlético went all out in the final minutes and deserved the victory, but it was not enough.
At the same time, but in the mythical Anfield stadium, Liverpool showed their cup lineage and tradition: they drew 3-3 with Benfica, in which the Argentine Nicolás Otamendi was the starter, and took advantage of the 3-1 first-leg win to get a ticket to semifinals.
Frenchman Ibrahim Konate’s header opened the scoring for Liverpool and Ramos leveled it. In the second half, the Brazilian Roberto Firmino scored twice and the Ukrainian Roman Yaremchuk and the Uruguayan Darwin Nuñez equalized for Benfica.
In principle, the semifinals are scheduled for Wednesday, April 27 (first leg) and May 4 (rematch). The final will be on May 28 at the Stade de France in Paris.
Source: Ambito
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