Atletico Madrid produced the performance of the century to defy mighty World & European champions Liverpool in their own backyard; coming up with a pulsating 3-2 win at Anfield to come up trumps 4-2 on aggregate and march into the quarter-finals.
With the signature 'smash & grab' theory in full flow; Atletico defended in mass numbers; with even their two strikers sinking deep into their own half; to defy the repeated attacks & pressure of the Liverpool faithful. For much of this match; they were hanging on; and hang on they did; as it is what they know best.
The problem was on the Liverpool right throughout the night; as Thomas Partey was continuously sucked back to guard Roberto Firmino; leaving Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the freedom and space to expose the youthful but ultimately inexperienced Renan Lodi. Oxlade-Chamberlain may not have played the biggest role this season; but he was the man of the moment; creating havoc and momentum with his insightful running and passing all through the nite.
Atletico did not pay heed to this mistake; and truly enough; it was Oxlade-Chamberlain's incisive run down the right flank that finally penetrated the Atletico rearguard. Saul Niguez was slightly slow to cover; and in came a perfect cross for Georginio Wijnaldum to head home and repeat his Barcelona heroics from last season.
The match was still in the balance all through the match; with Atletico 'keeper Jan Oblak in fine form; denying Liverpool from all angles. Andrew Robertson even hit the bar with a header as Liverpool started getting increasingly close. In the second half; Diego Simeone smartly swopped Thomas and Saul in central midfield to afford more protection down the Liverpool right. Juergen Klopp rather surprisingly subbed out Oxlade-Chamberlain for James Milner; but it proved okay as it was now Wijnaldum who was doing the business down that flank.
There was more drama in injury time as Saul looked to have headed the winner for Atletico but with the bench half-bursting out; it was rightly flagged for offside. Into extra-time; and it was the Liverpool right again that caused the damage; as Wijnaldum this time provided the trickery past Lodi and Saul again to put in another lovely cross. This time it was Firmino who got between the two Atleti centre-backs to head off the post; but it fell perfectly for the Brazilian to volley into the other corner.
It was now looking quite panicky for Atletico; there seemed quite no way back. But alas; it was Adrian who made a terrible mistake; scupping a Trent-Alexander-Arnold back-pass to fall to of all people; Joao Felix. The dangerous Portuguese starlet has got the vision; and he instinctively found substitute Marcos Llorente; who guided an unerring shot into the corner to put Atleti up on aggregate. People may have questioned the earlier sub of Llorente for the aggressive Diego Costa; but again it proved that Diego Simeone got his cards right.
Things got bad to worse for Liverpool as another Atleti sub Alvaro Morata advanced up with Liverpool getting increasingly desperate. He drew the defence before relaying a nice ball in-field to Llorente; and it was that man again who guided another beautiful curler around Jordan Henderson to send Atletico firmly in pole position.
With Liverpool now struggling to get back; it was that man Llorente again who provided the incisive through-ball for Morata; who strode through and calmly finished past Adrian to seal a 3-2 win for Atletico; and 4-2 on aggregate. Simeone went wild on the touchline in a fist-pumping celebration; reminiscent of Jose Mourinho's touchline sliding-knee celebration at Old Trafford years ago. It was indeed a momentous victory for a momentous team.
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