Of course Real Madrid's Champions League last-16 tie with Atletico Madrid would all come down to a contentious VAR decision! Julian Alvarez did touch the ball twice when scoring Atleti's second penalty, but was a cruel way for 210 minutes of cagey, often unwatchable football to end.
In the second leg on Wednesday, Atletico edged it. The scoreline - a 1-0 win to level the tie at 2-2 - suggests as much. But over two full fixtures, extra-time, and a controversial penalty shootout, of course Real won; it's just what they do. And it's really quite a shame that it all had to end like this - with angry press conferences from Diego Simeone, trolling on social media, and righteous indigation from Madrid fans on X.
After 27 seconds, in fact, this looked poised to be something of a classic. Atleti scored right from the kick-off, a wonderfully worked goal that began with a clever Antoine Griezmann pass and ended with a Conor Gallagher jab - with some chaotic Madrid defending in between. From there, Atleti squeezed all of the spaces, leaving Madrid no room to play. Vinicius Jr jinked, pushed and cut, only to find a swarm of red and white shirts wherever he looked. Atleti flew forward on the break, but without a clear goal-scorer lacked cutting edge.
Vinicius did have the big chance to flip the narrative after Kylian Mbappe burst through on goal, cut to his left, and was dragged down by Clement Lenglet in the box. Vinicius took the penalty, but smashed it high into the Madrid night - which summed up his miserable evening.
Atleti really should have capitalised, but Madrid defended well, keeping the hosts mostly away from their box, and forced Alvarez - who was excellent for 120 minutes before his shootout nightmare - into the sort of shooting angles he never wanted to be in.
Once it went to penalties, there never seemed to be all that much doubt. Alvarez's controversial double-hit, combined with a Marcos Llorente effort that smacked against the crossbar, negated the potential damange of a limp effort from Lucas Vazquez. Antonio Rudiger - as he did against Manchester City last season - was left to add the finishing touch.
And so Madrid roll on, the unkillable giants of Europe, who use fortune and sheer belief to drag themselves deep into the Champions League.
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