Antoine Griezmann was the hero for Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, as his double secured a 2-0 win over Barcelona and a 3-2 triumph on aggregate.
The Frenchman broke the deadlock in the first-half, and added this penalty in the second period to ensure that the defending European champions were sent crashing out of the competition.
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In what was a highly charged encounter between the Spanish rivals, Barca will feel aggrieved that they weren’t awarded a late penalty of their own when Gabi appeared to commit a handball inside the Atleti box.
Replays showed that it was in fact inside the box, but the referee opted to award a free-kick as Barca missed an opportunity to send the game into extra-time.
Their failure to find a goal on Wednesday night resulted in it being only the second time in nine seasons that they have failed to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League, with both quarter-final exits coming at the hands of Atleti.
Diego Simeone undoubtedly deserves plenty of credit for masterminding the latest win, but as do his players who deserved to advance over the course of the two legs.
Fernando Torres’ first-leg away goal was crucial in setting the scene for Wednesday night, and his red card ultimately didn’t prove to be costly as Atletico now advance to Friday’s semi-finals draw.