Tuesday 3 May 2016

Athletico are through to the 2015/16 champions league final



Even Fernando Torres' penalty miss failed to stop
the Spanish side marching into another decider,

while Thomas Muller also erred from the spot in a
pulsating clash
Atletico Madrid followed up their Barcelona heroics
by dumping another favourite out of the Champions
League, as a 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich
nevertheless sent them through to the final on
away goals.
Atletico held a 1-0 aggregate advantage from the
first leg at Vicente Calderon, but Xabi Alonso
cancelled it out when his free-kick found the back
of the net following a deflection off Jose Maria
Gimenez.
Bayern had been relentless in their pressing and
were offered the chance to lead the tie for the first
time when referee Cuneyt Cakir awarded them a
penalty following Gimenez's foul on Javi Martinez.
However, Thomas Muller, back in the line-up after
being benched for the meeting in Madrid, was
denied from the spot by Atletico goalkeeper Jan
Oblak.
Muller's failure to convert proved to have a huge
cost, with Antoine Griezmann racing away early in
the second half and slotting a disguised shot
beyond Manuel Neuer at his near post.
Robert Lewandowski's 74th-minute header made it
2-2 on aggregate, but, after Fernando Torres was
kept out from the spot by Neuer following a
controversial penalty decision, it was not enough to
offer Pep Guardiola - who suffered a third straight
semi-final exit at the Bayern helm - the chance to
sign off his tenure in Bavaria with a shot at the
Champions League title.
Bayern controlled possession from kick-off, but,
after Lewandowski headed wide in the 12th minute,
Gabi offered a reminder of the threat posed by
Atletico when he forced Neuer into a routine save
with a powerful drive from 25 yards.
Guardiola's side were unperturbed and Jerome
Boateng – starting a second successive match
after returning from three months out at the
weekend – picked out Muller's diagonal run into the
box, who, rather than shoot, teed up Lewandowski
for a shot that was blocked by the onrushing Oblak.
Lewandowski and Philipp Lahm missed further
chances as Bayern applied relentless pressure, and
they finally broke through in the 31st minute.
Augusto Fernandez conceded a free kick near the
edge of the box for a foul on David Alaba and
Alonso drilled the resultant free-kick into the back
of the net with the help of a deflection off Gimenez
that wrong-footed Neuer.
Despite being rejoined in the centre of defence by
Diego Godin, things got worse for Gimenez two
minutes later when he was adjudged to have fouled
Martinez inside the box while defending a corner,
conceding a penalty.
The centre-back was shown a yellow card by the
referee, but Oblak bailed him out by diving to his
right and saving Muller's spot-kick, bouncing back
to his feet to block Alonso's follow-up.


posted from Bloggeroid

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