- Rodrigo de Paul and Samuel Lino put the home team 2-0 up in the first half
- Substitute Sébastien Haller pulled one back for Borussia Dortmund in the 81st minute.
- Have Liverpool been mentally torpedoed by Man United? Listen to the everything is beginning podcast
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It may not be the pure, intense drama from across town 24 hours earlier – or even in Paris – but it might as well have been.
Borussia Dortmund stank at Civitas Metropolitano until half-time. Terrible individual errors that contributed to two goals.
The looks of perplexity at how Diego Simeone’s team faced a Champions League tie. Scared of pickpockets, cowering in the cauldron.
Dortmund, fifth in the Bundesliga, went nowhere in this tie.
Curiously, they could now be considered favorites to reach their first semi-final in 11 years next week and would have been well and truly on the rise had Julian Brandt’s 95th-minute header not hit the bar.
Rodrigo de Paul jumped over a defensive howl to open the scoring for Atlético Madrid
Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel delayed a pass to Ian Maatsen and De Paul intercepted it to score
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Brandt’s arrival at half-time changed everything: Dortmund was more progressive and had more courage.
Sebastien Haller, another substitute, gave them a lifeline with nine minutes remaining. Coach Edin Terzic really earned his money.
They will say that if this stadium can leave visitors stunned, so can the Westfalenstadion. With a little more. The dullest quarter-final on paper could still have its say after one of the craziest weeks in European history.
But what about Atlético? What a missed opportunity! A goal after four minutes, a second at 32 – with many chances in between – and his fans left crestfallen, despite having won the tie.
It had been so comfortable. Former Burnley loanee Ian Maatsen blindly passed through a horrible area. Close on their heels, Dortmund could do nothing when Rodrigo De Paul intervened, touched and scored.
Agitated, Terzic could only watch as his team failed to control this. Dortmund finally got their first touch inside Atlético’s area on the half hour through Jadon Sancho, only to give up a second moments later.
Mats Hummels was the culprit.
Another defensive error allowed Samuel Lino to extend the lead in the 32nd minute
Antoine Griezmann passed to Lino and he slid the ball past Gregor Kobel
Borussia Dortmund forward Sebastien Haller reduced the deficit in the 81st minute
Man United loanee Jadon Sancho was a constant threat in Madrid on Wednesday night.
The veteran had gone to recover a simple ball from a throw-in, without being able to communicate properly with his central partner Nico Schlotterbeck.
The two collided, Antoine Griezmann was in the box and his mischievous strike for Samuel Lino went past Gregor Kobel.
Lino, suspended for next week, was magnificently denied by Kobel before Haller had his moment and Brandt almost snatched a precious second from him.
