Borussia Dortmund 4-2 Atletico Madrid: Talking points as BVB overturn Madrid deficit to reach Champions League semifinals

Despite losing the first leg in Spain, Borussia Dortmund have booked a place in the Champions League semifinals at the expense of Atletico Madrid.

The Bundesliga side took the lead through Julian Brandt in the 34th minute and Ian Maatsen doubled it five minutes later. Atletico responded after the break with a Mats Hummels own-goal and a nice finish from substitute Angel Correa set the score on the night level. However, it was Niclas Fullkrug (71′) and Marcel Sabitzer (74′) who settled the tie in favour of Dortmund.

The game

It was no surprise to see Dortmund start the match with attacking intent, but it was perhaps a bit unexpected that Atletico didn’t exactly go into it with the intention to “close shop”, particularly with the fact in mind that Diego Simeone named a five-man back line to start. Within four minutes, both teams had a great chance to break the deadlock, but Dortmund’s Marcel Sabitzer was a bit too slow to react at six yards and allowed Cesar Azpilicueta to block his shot from there, while Alvaro Morata had a sudden one-on-one situation with Gregor Kobel in the Dortmund goal, only to chip the ball wide of the post.

But Dortmund gradually increased the volume and applied plenty of pressure around the half-hour mark, and it bore fruit as Hummels set Brandt up with a lovely pass and Brandt fired past Jan Oblak to send his team ahead. Only five minutes later, Maatsen burst into the box from the left and beat the Atletico goalkeeper again from a similar position.

Dortmund appeared on their way to win the game as they brought the first half to a somewhat calmer end with a two-goal advantage, but straight from the restart, Atletico hit hard, and it paid off as Hummels diverted a Mario Hermoso header past his own goalkeeper. Given the result from the first leg, the two teams were back where they started.

The gloves were off at that point and as each battled to impose control over the other, in the 56th minute, Angel Correa,…

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Author : Veselin Trajkovic

Publish date : 2024-04-16 21:40:06

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