MADRID — How assured was Hansi Flick of turning this UEFA Champions League quarterfinal tie round?
“9 or ten [out of ten],” the Barcelona coach instructed Spanish TV earlier than kickoff, undeterred by Atlético Madrid‘s imposing 2-0 first-leg lead.
And why not? If you’ve obtained Lamine Yamal, you have obtained each cause to be optimistic. {The teenager} is already so good, so decisive, so typically, that it was no shock to see him dominating this second leg on the Metropolitano proper from the beginning, unfazed by the event or the ambiance.
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“Since I used to be a child, I’ve taken on a whole lot of duty,” the 18-year-old mentioned the day earlier than the sport. “I am used to it. I do not thoughts.”
Yamal’s first-half efficiency made the prospect of a comeback potential, placing Barça 2-0 up on the night time and 2-2 on combination. However the hosts endured, as veterans like Antoine Griezmann and captain Koke had been excellent, they usually discovered a approach again.
“It was actually arduous for us at first as we speak,” Koke mentioned afterwards.
“However we had been in a position to get again into the sport. I stored saying, ‘We’re stage within the tie, we’ve got to maintain going, and get a objective.’ And that is what we did.”
At kickoff, Atlético would have been decided to maintain Yamal and the opening phases as quiet and incident-free as potential, defending that two-goal benefit. Good luck with that. Simply 30 seconds had handed when {the teenager} picked up the ball, charged straight on the Atlético protection, and noticed his shot tipped across the publish by goalkeeper Juan Musso.
It was a warning for the house aspect, in the event that they wanted it. However retaining Yamal quiet was by no means more likely to be an choice, particularly for this makeshift Atlético protection, with Robin Le Normand and Clément Lenglet — neither first-choice for coach Diego Simeone this season — beginning at heart again.
4 minutes in, Yamal made it 1-0, and the wrongdoer was Lenglet, who typically seems to be an accident ready to occur when he seems in these high-profile video games. Beneath strain, the defender gave the ball away. Ferran Torres performed in Yamal, who completed by means of Musso’s legs.
It was the 18-year-old’s eleventh Champions League objective. No participant has scored extra earlier than his nineteenth birthday, as Kylian Mbappé had solely managed 10 on the similar age. Already, Atlético had been wobbling, the stadium’s raucous pre-match confidence shaken. On 23 minutes, it was 2-0, Torres ending from Dani Olmo‘s intelligent by means of ball.
Torres had been a courageous choice from Flick, picked forward of Robert Lewandowski. Torres went 13 video games over two months earlier than scoring towards Espanyol final weekend. Right here, Flick made the fitting name, as Torres delivered once more.
Solely an extended break in play, as Fermín López acquired remedy for an harm to his face, allowed Atlético to compose themselves. Ademola Lookman‘s Thirty first-minute objective, after Griezmann performed in Marcos Llorente on the fitting, helped the Metropolitano crowd discover its voice once more. Lookman has now been concerned in 9 objectives since becoming a member of Atlético in February, second solely to Julián Alvarez.
By halftime, Barcelona had created 5 large possibilities, in line with Opta. Yamal had scored considered one of them and created three others, for Olmo, López and Torres. However they had been nonetheless behind within the tie. Their 2-0 defeat at Camp Nou final week had given them a lot to do. Even Lamine’s magic hadn’t but been sufficient.
Within the second half, there have been extra heart-in-mouth moments for Atlético — Torres had a objective disallowed for offside, and Olmo shot over the bar when properly positioned — however Barcelona by no means fairly recovered the Yamal-led momentum of the first-half push.
Eric García‘s late pink card, for a last-man shirt pull on substitute Alexander Sørloth, made the duty that a lot tougher. It was Barcelona’s second pink card of the tie, after Pau Cubarsí’s early dismissal final week, two sendings off which have sophisticated an already troublesome process. In all competitions, Barcelona have acquired eight pink playing cards this season and three of them have come towards Atlético.
In eight minutes of added time, Flick resorted to throwing Ronald Araújo up entrance, and Barça had been virtually rewarded when he headed over the bar within the 97th minute. After that, there was time for one final Yamal dribble, a cross to the far publish in the direction of Araújo, and it was recreation over.
“We performed properly, and we gave all the pieces,” Frenkie de Jong mentioned. “We tried. The sensation is that luck wasn’t on our aspect. Now we have to maintain going, we’re stepping into the fitting route. With one participant fewer, it is all the time harder.”
Simeone and Atlético’s Champions League file towards Barcelona is impeccable, advancing within the quarterfinals in 2014, 2016 and now in 2026. The final two occasions, Atlético reached the ultimate, solely to lose to rivals Actual Madrid.
This present version is a extra thrilling and extra weak crew than their popularity — and that of Simeone — would possibly recommend. Already properly adrift in LaLiga, they’ve a Copa del Rey closing on Saturday towards Actual Sociedad — after which will be capable of focus all their efforts on this competitors.
As for Barcelona and Yamal, their season is sort of sure to finish with a second consecutive LaLiga title, however hopes of a primary Champions League win since 2015 should wait one other 12 months.
“The subsequent step is to win LaLiga,” mentioned Flick. “We’re on the way in which. It isn’t achieved but. It is a large dream to win the Champions League. Now we have a younger crew they usually can and can enhance.”
