UCL Round of 16 (First Leg) Match Report: Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid
Feb 22, 2017 at 11:59 AM
Atletico Madrid defeated hosts Bayer Leverkusen by 4-2 after a thrilling night of Champions League football.
Last time runner-up Atletico Madrid secured a 4-2 victory against the hosts’ German side Bayer Leverkusen in the first leg clash of UCL 2016/17 Round of 16. Saul Niguez (17′), Antoine Griezmann (25′), Kevin Gameiro (58′ PEN) and Fernando Torres (86′) scored for the visitors while Karim Bellarabi (48′) and Stefan Savic’s own goal (67’) accounted for the hosts.
The hosts might start more disastrous with an early (13’) own goal as Wendell’s clearance on Luis’ cross luckily hit his own crossbar.
However, the visitors had not wait much longer for their first goal as just 4 minutes later Saul netted through an incredible curling from a tough position, giving no chance to the goalie (Bernd Leno).
The Spanish club doubled their lead on 25 minute with Griezmann’s goal. After making a turn, Gameiro slotted a ball for the French forward who smashed on target.
The hosts tried hard to open their scoreline but failed on their mission during their first half. Moreover, they survived from conceding another goal in that half as Leno made an important save (34’) on Griezmann’s stunning chance which was just gone over the bar at the end.
Despite having more controlling in the ball position for the hosts, the Spanish side dominated in the first half.
However, the scenario was changed at beginning of the second half when the hosts finally opened their account at early stage. On 48 minutes, Bellarabi netted the ball from Benjamin Henrichs’ beautiful cross.
10 minutes later the visitors were received a penalty after Gameiro was pulled by Dragovic. However the clash was occurred just outside the box but the Frenchman fell inside the box as they earned a penalty.
Gameiro made no mistake from that set-piece as he hit at the middle of the goal which was failed to trace by Leno.
On 67 minutes, the visitors conceded an own goal which counted as 2-3 on the scoreboard. Atletico’s goalie Moya failed to clear properly Brandt’s low cross as his delivery hit the fellow Savic’s knee to enter the goal.
The hosts further tried hard to make a comeback.
On 84 minutes, Javier Hernandez almost scored an equalizer goal when his shot beat the goalie but Filipe Luis made a sudden block to deny any further damage for the visitors.
2 minutes later, the Spanish side ensured their victory through Torres’ head. Sime Vrsaljko’s cross found Torres whose close-range header beat Leno and entered to the goal.
The match was finally ended by 4-2 in the favour of Atletico Madrid. Now, they will meet again on 15th March in the return leg at Vicente Calderon Stadium (Madrid).