Atletico Madrid let a lead slip in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie with Manchester United on Wednesday evening, with the Premier League side ending the night fortunate to leave with a 1-1 draw at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano.
Match Report
Despite the disappointment to let their advantage get away from them, Atletico ended the night maintaining an impressive unbeaten run in Champions League knockout games at home in Madrid under Diego Simeone, winning nine and drawing five of the 14 they've played.
Los Colchoneros' disappointment will largely stem from the fact that they were excellent on the night, and they went close early on as they looked to press United back and forced corners in the opening minutes.
With just seven minutes on the clock, Atleti led through Joao Felix. Renan Lodi won the ball out wide and delivered a great ball. The Portuguese got in front of Harry Maguire to head in off the upright, sending the ball squeezing over the line.
They kept coming though and United were fortunate not to fall further behind as chances went begging. The biggest fell to Sime Vrsaljko, who headed off the crossbar right on the stroke of half time after another fine Lodi ball.
Anthony Elanga levelled from nowhere with what was one of his very first touches of the ball, slotting home confidently when put through by Bruno Fernandes with 10 minutes to play.
With the 90th minute approaching, Antoine Griezmann went within inches of a winner. His curling effort beat David De Gea but came bouncing back off the crossbar.
Atleti travel to Manchester for the second leg on March 15.
Match Events
1' The match is about to start!
5' GOAL! Atletico 1-0 Man Utd (Felix)
14' CLOSE! Bruno Fernandes’s shot wide out
32' Ronaldo's foul against Atleti
36' CLOSE! Ronaldo’s shot wide out
39' Llorente gets a huge tackle on Ronaldo
44' POST! Atletico almost score a second goal
49' Yellow Card! Shaw booked
59' Yellow Card! Lindelof booked
62' Yellow Card! Reinildo booked
64' Yellow Card! Rashford booked
73' Yellow Card! Fred booked
76' Yellow Card! Llorente booked
78' Ronaldo’s shot flies into the sky
79' GOAL! Atletico 1-1 Man Utd (Elanga)
86' POST! Griezmann almost score a goal
Line-ups
Atletico XI: Herrera, Vrsaljko, Oblak, Savic, Kondogbia, Gimenez, Correa, Reinildo, Llorente, Felix, Lodi
Subs: Suarez, Griezmann, B. Lecomte, Felipe, Lemar, De Paul, Hermoso, Christian, Javi Serrano
Man Utd XI: Ronaldo, De Gea, Lindelof, Varane, Pogba, Maguire, Fred, Shaw, Bruno Fernandes, Rashford, Sancho
Subs: Heaton, Mata, Matic, Jones, Alex Telles, Lingard, Bailly, Dean Henderson, Dalot, Wan-Bissaka, H. Mejbri, A. Elanga
HDavies
782
Atletico was playing smack down today 😂😂😂😂 WWE
Benxe
531
Atletico players: “Diego, we have been knocked out 5 times by Ronaldo in the Champions League. How are we going to beat Man Utd?” Simeone: “That is where Harry Maguire comes in.”
LazzieMIithete
492
All Thanks to this Star boy Man Utd Future, No doubts 🔥
OguguaBryan
471
Atletico keeper in the first half of the game till 80 minutes
chrisonar
434
Renaldo wanted the game to stay at 1-0 so he could've strike and come back again 🤣🤣🤣🤣😅😅😅 athletico understood the lesson let one go into the net
Heart_of_Atletico
422
Simeone out!!! He is coaching atleti to think tying a game on 30% possession is a good game. He doesnt let felix shine to his fullest always taking him out of the game. Simeone does not know how to coach a team to score goals, only park the bus. Now that he has a team that thinks offensive they loose because he trys to make them play the opposite. Nothing is more frustrating than being atleti fan because we have a good team but our coach makes them play defensive the whole game
Beautifulboy
329
Report: Why didn’t you break a record today?🙂 Ronaldo: Everyday is not Christmas.😒
educatea
325
Click this to view GIFs: https://bit.ly/353NbQH
Rtdkola
313
Mr Play~Maker.
DrizzyJhay
282
I can see some idiots and ignorance people who doesn’t watch the match, and come here to mention Ronaldo not knowing that Ronaldo really played well today, pogba, Rashford,Fernandez were the main flop in today’s match I don’t even except to see anything about Ronaldo but all this Barca ,Psg fan were very ignorant they’re full of hate
starkido
226
my prediction earlier today
Ayubaumar924
214
premier league club in the champion leagues🤣🤣🤣
yvelnerry
10
I can see some idiots and ignorance people who doesn’t watch the match, and come here to mention Ronaldo not knowing that Ronaldo really played well today, pogba, Rashford,Fernandez were the main flop in today’s match I don’t even except to see anything about Ronaldo but all this Barca ,Psg fan were very ignorant they’re full of hate
Fernandez and pogba played well Ronaldo and Rashford barely touched the ball