Gutsy Atletico stun Liverpool, Haaland double sinks PSG

Gutsy Atletico stun Liverpool, Haaland double sinks PSG

MADRID: Liverpool were the victims of an old-fashioned Atletico Madrid masterclass as teenage record-breaker Erling Braut Haaland scored twice to seal Borussia Dortmund’s 2-1 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.

Diego Simeone’s Atletico stunned Liverpool 1-0 to give themselves hope of reaching the quarter-finals. Saul Niguez raised the roof at a bouncing Wanda Metropolitano by scoring in the fourth minute before Atletico’s defence kicked in, suffocating the European champions and denying them a single shot on target.

“Tonight is one of those nights you don’t forget,” said Simeone. “We haven’t gone through but we have beaten the best team in the world.” If Alvaro Morata had not slipped at the crucial moment, Atleti might even have taken a two-goal lead to Anfield, where they can expect an onslaught next month.

Few had tipped them to keep this tie even alive for the second leg given their own stuttering form, in contrast to Liverpool, unbeaten in the Premier League, and gunning for a treble. Simeone sprung a surprise by starting Thomas Lemar for the first time this year while Alvaro Morata and Diego Costa both returned from injury, the former from the start and the latter off the bench in the second half.

Liverpool, who began with their expected eleven, have blitzed numerous opponents with explosive starts but they were the ones rocking early on as Atletico snapped at their heels, pressed hard and relished being first to every loose ball.

They took the lead, aided by a hint of fortune as Liverpool failed to clear the corner and the ball cannoned back off the foot of Fabinho for Saul to stab in from three yards. On the sideline, Simeone beckoned his players to stay calm but they were celebrating in the corner while in the stands, the fans were delirious and given hope.

Atletico were given a lead to defend and the rest of the half was largely a picture of Liverpool dominating the ball but failing to break down the 10 red and white shirts in front of them.

Their best chances fell to Mohamed Salah but he passed Jan Oblak’s mishit clearance to the offside Firmino before sidefooting into an open net and then saw a deflected shot fly over.

Oblak’s error came shortly after an equally unusual mistake from Virgil van Dijk, whose poor header might have proved costly, only for Morata to miss the chance from the angle.

Simeone could sense Liverpool’s momentum and he responded by frantically flapping his arms to demand more support.

Salah drifted into space at the back post but headed wide and Atletico came through another spell of pressure unscathed. Morata should even have made it two but slipped when about to pull the tigger on Lodi’s cut-back.

Meanwhile, forward Haaland took his tally to 11 goals in seven games since Dortmund paid Salzburg 20 million euros ($22 million) for the 19-year-old with second-half goals either side of Neymar’s equaliser for PSG.

Having also scored eight times for Salzburg in the group stage, Haaland now has 10 goals in just seven Champions League games this season.

His performance left Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in the shade, with the latter struggling to truly make his mark having been kept on the sidelines for the last two weeks ahead of this game due to a rib injury.

However, the Brazilian superstar’s away goal means PSG remain very much in contention to reach the quarter-finals after three consecutive exits in the last 16.

There was little to separate the teams in the first half although Dortmund’s English winger Jadon Sancho squandered one chance on the counter-attack and then forced a fine save from Keylor Navas just before the half-hour mark.

Witsel was calling the shots in midfield, while his midfield partner Can — whose loan deal from Juventus was made into a permanent move earlier in the day — had a penalty appeal waved away by Spanish referee Mateu Lahoz after being clattered in the area by Marco Verratti.

After the goalless first half, Dortmund poured forward and kept finding spaces to exploit down the flanks. Dortmund’s Swiss coach Lucien Favre then brought on Giovanni Reyna, who only turned 17 last November, for his Champions League debut midway through the second half.

Moments later Haaland got the breakthrough when he stabbed past Navas from close range after Thiago Silva had blocked a Raphael Guerreiro shot. The game had now come to life, and with their German coach Thomas Tuchel frantically urging them on, PSG drew level six minutes later when Mbappe unpicked the Dortmund defence and presented Neymar with a straightforward finish.

However, the scene was set for Haaland to continue his phenomenal scoring run with a stunning finish from the edge of the area following a Reyna pass.

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