Sports

Champions League: Real Madrid defeat Atletico in dramatic penalties

Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez had a penalty dramatically cancelled in the shootout as Real Madrid defeated their city rivals to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

They will face Arsenal in the last eight, having kept alive their hopes of winning a record-extending 16th Champions League trophy.

Neither side could find a winning goal before the end of extra time after Conor Gallagher’s strike – just 27 seconds into the game – had levelled the tie on aggregate after Real’s 2-1 first-leg win.

That meant penalties were needed to determine the outcome and, after the first three had been converted, former Manchester City forward Alvarez stepped up to take Atletico’s second.

He slipped while taking it, but the ball ended up in the back of the net. While it was initially given, the successful spot-kick was subsequently ruled out by the video assistant referee (VAR), with Alvarez having been deemed to have touched the ball twice as he struck his effort.

Fede Valverde converted his penalty to put Real 3-1 ahead and although Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak saved Lucas Vazquez’s spot-kick to briefly give Atletico hope, Marcos Llorente hit the bar.

Antonio Rudiger then stepped up to squeeze home the winning penalty to push Real through by a 4-2 margin.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button