A stumble, a repeated contact, a failed penalty shot.
Just like that, Atletico Madrid suffered through yet another devastating defeat against their arch-rival Real Madrid in the Champions League .
Julián Álvarez stumbled and touched the ball twice when he took his penalty during the shootout against Madrid, leading to the goal being canceled out after video replay verified the violation.
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If it had been tied at 2-2 during the shootout, Madrid ultimately took the lead with a score of 3-1 and went on to win 4-2, thus advancing to the quarterfinals and maintaining their chance to claim victory in the Champions League once more.
"I believed he made contact with the ball twice, so I informed the referee," stated Madrid's goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
It’s difficult to notice that. They had some misfortune happening their way.
The Atletico manager, Diego Simeone, mentioned that after reviewing the replays, he did not notice a double touch from the Argentine player. However, he expressed his desire "to think that if the VAR stepped in, it must have spotted something."
Conor Gallagher found the back of the net within the first 30 seconds of the game, securing Atletico a 1-0 victory following both regular and additional playing times, which left the overall score at 2-2.
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Madrid won the first leg 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium last week.
For Atletico, which has never won the top European club competition, it meant another excruciating setback against the Madrid — the fifth consecutive to the city rival.
Atlético suffered defeats in two UEFA Champions League finals against Real Madrid — in 2014 and 2016 — and were knocked out during the round of quarters in 2015 as well as the semi-finals in 2017 when the teams met in the knock-out stages.
"It certainly causes pain," Atletico's goalkeeper Jan Oblak stated.
We had an excellent game, but sadly we faced some bad luck. It’s disappointing. It really stings.
Aston Villa had a stress-free evening at home to ensure England has two teams in the quarter finals, one night after Premier League leader Liverpool was beaten at Anfield by Paris Saint-Germain in a shootout.
Aston Villa secured a 3-0 victory over Club Brugge, who had only nine players on the field following the 69th minute due to an ejection. The team previously triumphed 3-1 in Belgium. During this match, Brugge’s Kyriani Sabbe received his marching orders for fouling Marcus Rashford as he raced towards the goal.
The quarter-final matchups are as follows: Arsenal versus Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain against Aston Villa, Barcelona facing Borussia Dortmund, and Bayern Munich clashing with Inter Milan.
The first-leg matches will take place on April 9-10, with the return games scheduled for exactly one week after those dates.
