Atletico Madrid vs Bayern Munich match report: Saul Niguez wonder goal gives Atletico the advantage
Atletico Madrid 1 Bayern Munich 0
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Your support makes all the difference."Spanish Football has found another fine talent," said Pep Guardiola of Saul Niguez having watched his wonder goal leave Bayern Munich on the brink of Champions League elimination.
Guardiola now has 90 minutes to ensure he doesn’t leave to manage Manchester City at the end of the season having never taking the German club to a European Cup final in his three seasons.
After the 1-0 defeat he tried to take solace in the way Bayern had laid siege to Atletico Madrid in the second half. "We had a good end to the first half and then the first half hour of the second period we dominated," he said. "The result is not good but it was a brilliant goal from Saul and we created a lot of chances against a team that doesn’t usually allow many chances so now we have got 90 minutes to turn it around in Munich."
He was asked about the fact that two years ago his Bayern team lost 1-0 in the first leg in the Santiago Bernabeu and then lost 4-0 in the second leg at home. "We will try to deal with the counter attacks better this time," he said.
Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer, so brilliantly beaten by Saul, pulled no punches after the game: "We were lacking in bravery and we weren’t aggressive enough in the first half but we know we have 90 minutes now to turn things around," he said. "We’ll give our all in front of our home fans next week and we firmly believe we will reach the final in Milan."
Simeone predictably tried to dampen Saul-fever saying: "He still has a lot to improve in". But he admitted: "People now want to pin medals on him but everything that is happening to Saul is deserved because he has never stopped working and believing in his own ability. Right from the first part of his dribble it look like he might score. We know how strong he is going past people. I didn’t see too much of the shot itself you can imagine how content it made us."
‘Content’ might be the understatement of the season. The Calderon erupted as the ball hit the back of the net on 11 minutes. It was his third in the tournament, no Spaniard has scored more this season in the Champions League and surely no player of any nationality has scored a better goal.
He was still inside the centre-circle when he picked the ball up. He had Thiago Alcantara tracking him but he soon left him behind. Juan Bernat then looked to close him down but he dropped his shoulder and soon said goodbye to the former Valencia full-back. Xabi Alonso came sliding in by but failed to dispossess the 21-year-old midfielder and with the whites of the posts now in clear view he bent a left-footed shot around David Alaba and Mauel Neuer.
It was brilliant and it was the worst possible news for Guardiola who was left shaking his head on the touchline. With 13 clean sheets in their last 17 Champions League home games coming into this game, going behind was the last thing he wanted to do against this Atletico side.
David Alaba rattled the crossbar ten minutes into the second half as Bayern stepped-up operation comeback and Javi Martinez had a header saved on the line by Jan Oblak a minute later from Xabi Alonso’s corner.
Atletico were shaken but they managed to break the game up and give themselves breathing space Saul Gimenez went dow after a clash with Robert Lewandowski and after originally making the most of it and provoking the Pole’s reaction he jumped up and confronted him. It was designed to break Bayern’s rhythm and it worked.
The next big chance was Atletico’s. Antoine Griezmann robbed Franck Ribery who had come in the second half and then ran from deep inside his own half to feed Torres from the edge of the area.
Torres who had battled gamely on night scrapping for every loose ball now had the chance to give Atletico a priceless second goal but although he stepped away from Alaba his shot came back agonizingly off the post. There were 76 minutes on the clock that might have finished it but Bayern were still alive.
Things got heated when Medhi Benatia upended Gabi and Manuel Neuer charged out of his goal to confront the Atletico midfielder for making the most of the challenge – he had not. It was late and off the pitch and he deserved the yellow carded, also shown the Bayern keeper.
Torres now appeared to be asking the referee how long was left an no wonder because Bayern are as clever at working one last gasp chance from somewhere as any team in the world.
It fell to Vidal when it came. Lewandowski combined with Müller who nodded down for the Chilean who couldn’t find the finish. When Mark Clattenburg blew the final whistle the Calderon raised red and white scarves above their heads to roar out the ‘Atleti! Atleti!’ anthem one more time. They now send their team off to Munich to finish the job. They have one foot in the final.
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