UEFA Champions League
LIVE: CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: RB LEIPZIG 2-1 ATLETICO MADRID
It’s all over! Leipzig are in the semifinals for the first time in their history!!!!
It’s 2 minutes beyond the added time.
Yellow card – Gimenez
We’re over the allotted 5 minutes of added time, but still we play on… free kick to Leipzig, and surely that’s it?
90+5 min: Atletico Madrid are throwing men forward now, but they’re running out of time. There’s a Leipzig man down complaining of cramp
FIVE MINUTES ADDED TIME:
GOAL! RB Leipzig 2-1 Atletico Madrid (Adams)
88 min: It’s a great flick around the corner from Sabitzer for Angelino, who finds substitute Adams in the middle. He takes a long range shot, and it takes an awful deflection to go past Oblak and into the goal!
GOAL! RB Leipzig 2-1 Atletico Madrid (Adams)
88 min: It’s a great flick around the corner from Sabitzer for Angelino, who finds substitute Adams in the middle. He takes a long range shot, and it takes an awful deflection to go past Oblak and into the goal!
GOAL!!!!!!OAL! RB Leipzig 2-1 Atletico Madrid (Adams)
Atletico Madrid have scored in each of their last 19 games in all competitions – last enjoying a longer scoring run in 2012 (24 games).82 mins
SUBSTITUTIONS
RB Leipzig 1-1 Atletico Madrid
Goalscorer Dani Olmo is off and is replaced by Patrik Schick and Christopher Nkunku comes off for Amadou Haidara.
João Félix has scored four goals in his three European quarter-final appearances, having hit a hat-trick for Benfica against Eintracht Frankfurt in last season’s UEFA Europa League first leg.That spot kick made it six goals from six penalties for him in senior football – the last three in UEFA club competition.
81mins:
Under 10 minutes to go
Remember, there are no second legs. This one’s going to extra time if the teams can’t be separated in the next 9 minutes
78MIN: Substitution: Adams (in) – Laimer (out) (Leipzig).
77 min: Leipzig now have to come again, as it looks like Atletico are content to sit back again
Subs: Atletico: Morata comes on for Costa
Leipzig: Adams comes on for Laimer
PENALTY KICK!!!
PENALTY TO ATLETICO MADRID
It’s that man Joao Felix! He plays a one-two with Costa and he’s into the box, brought down around the penalty spot just before he takes a shot
63 min: Felix wins a free kick for his side
Yellow card – Lodi
61 min: Lodi knocks the ball past his man in the box and he goes down!
No contact whatsoever, and he’s given a yellow card for diving
58 mins
SUBSTITUTION
RB Leipzig 1-0 Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone twists after just 13 minutes of the second half played.
Hector Herrera is off and £113m Joao Felix joins the attack.
58 mins
SUBSTITUTION
RB Leipzig 1-0 Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone twists after just 13 minutes of the second half played.
Hector Herrera is off and £113m Joao Felix joins the attack.
Gooooal!
Olmo (Leipzig) scores!
GOAL! RB Leipzig 1-0 Atletico Madrid (Olmo)
51 min: Finally! They work it well, and Olmo finds some space in the box to guide a header straight past Oblak, who can’t get near it with his outstretched hand
2nd Half KICK-OFF
RB Leipzig 0-0 Atletico Madrid
We are back under way in Lisbon.
Post update
45+2 mins
Half Time
Post update
RB Leipzig 0-0 Atletico Madrid
RB free-kick though.
41 mins: RB Leipzig 0-0 Atletico Madrid
Marcos Llorente rolls his way towards the advertising hoardings after an excellent tackle by Dayot Upamecano. He’s OK despite giving the appearance his career was over.
Atletico have a corner but it’s cleared.
39 mins
Post update
RB Leipzig 0-0 Atletico Madrid
As if by magic, the blood has disappeared from the head of Marcel Halstenberg while Stefan Savic has a big bandage wrapped around his head.
We continue.
39 mins
RB Leipzig 0-0 Atletico Madrid
As if by magic, the blood has disappeared from the head of Marcel Halstenberg while Stefan Savic has a big bandage wrapped around his head.
We continue.
Ouch! That looked like it hurt and Savić is bleeding heavily. That kind of full-blooded commitment is exactly what Simeone demands from his players.
35mins: Medical attention:
Savic and Halstenberg are down after they come together at speed, their heads knocking together. The ref stops the match so they can be checked out
Savic looks the worst out of the two, and Felipe is warming up just in case
28 min: Diego Simeone is waving his imaginary yellow card as one of his men is once again brought down unfairly. The referee has kept his cards in his pocket so far though
26 min: RB Leipzig are able to swing a cross in though, and it’s a very good one, aimed at the tall defenders who had come forward right into that corridor of uncertainty, but Atleti get it clear
MATCH SO FAR RB LEIPZIG 0-0 ATLETICO MADRID
· Atlético face Leipzig in #UCL quarter-final
· Simeone’s side force 2 saves from Gulácsi
· Bright opening from Nagelsmann’s men
· Winners face Paris in semi-finals
21 mins ;RB Leipzig 0-0 Atletico Madrid
Crucial clearance by German defender Marcel Halstenberg from Yannick Carrasco’s free-kick to the far post – Marcos Llorente was lurking behind the RB man.
Atletico are right back in this match after RB’s earlier good spell.
19 min: Another free kick for Atletico Madrid in a decent position. Their players have been getting free in the box so far thanks to zonal marking.
Carrasco teases one in, and Saul is waiting for it before Halstenberg gets it clear
19 min: Another free kick for Atletico Madrid in a decent position.
15 min: The VAR check is taking a while, and in the meantime Leipzig are on the attack down the middle. It’s switched out to the left side, but the cross is headed away by Savic.
No penalty, by the way, after a three minute check
12 min: Lovely work from Carrasco and Lodi down the left, and the shot fizzes in towards Gulacsi’s near post, who parries it away for a corner.
Saul Niguez gets in a little tangle with the keeper and goes down in the box looking for a penalty, VAR are checking
4mins: Halstenberg (Leipzig) misses the target.
Giménez heads the corner clear and, from a second cross from the left, the ball falls to Halstenberg, who volleys a decent opportunity well over the far angle of Oblak’s goal from inside the penalty area on the right. This has been a positive start from Leipzig, looking confident and energetic.
2mins: Diego Costa (Atlético) is flagged for offside.
Atletico kicked off.
Leipzig make seven changes from last outing. Atlético bring in four from last match. German side make quarter-finals debut. Winners face Paris in semi-finals
KICK-OFF: The match is under way.
A minute’s silence will be observed before kick-off to honour all victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
TEAMS ARRIVE ON THE PITCH
RB Leipzig are out onto the pitch first, followed by Atletico Madrid separately making their way onto the pitch to promote social distancing
COVID -19 PROTOCOLS
There are a lot of rules in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus during the Champions League knockout stages.
Portugal is playing host to the rest of the competition, and two-legged ties are a thing of the past.
Each squad has been allocated a hotel and training area that is separate from the rest of the teams, and you need permission to leave.
There’s rigorous testing in place, and if you can’t field a squad of 13 healthy players, you automatically lose 3-0.
Each club has been allocated 210 bottles of water to use per day, and warm-ups cannot be done inside penalty areas in order to protect the pitch.
Action continues tonight in the UEFA Champions League as german side, RB Leipzig face La Liga side, Atletico Madrid.
It is the third match of the quarterfinal series. Both teams coincidentally overcame Premiership sides, Tottenham and Liverpool.
Diego Simeone ‘s Atletico Madrid will be hoping to make another final having seen Real Madrid exit in the last round, as their rivals caused them heartache in the 2014 and 2016 finals.
RB Leipzig finished third in the Bundesliga will be hoping to continue their impressive form without Timo Werner who helped them to this stage, now that he has signed for Chelsea.
RB LEIPZIG
Starting XI: Gulacsi, Angelino, Upamecano, Sabitzer, Poulsen, Klostermann, Nkunku, Halsternberg, Olmo, Laimer, Kampl
Subs: Mvogo, Tschauner, Orban, Haigara, Forsberg, Adams, Lookman, Schick, Mukiele, Novoa, Borkowski, Wosz
ATLETICO MADRID
Starting XI: Oblak, Lodi, Gimenez, Savic, Trippier, Carrasco, Saul, Koke, Herrera, Llorente, Costa
Subs: Adan, Arias, Felipe, Hermoso, Sanchez, Thomas, Lemar, Vitolo, Toni Moya, Joao Felix, Morata, Saponjic
Spain’s LaLiga will be represented by at least five teams in the Champions League next season after Italy’s Lazio were eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday while Athletic Bilbao progressed to the semi-finals.
LaLiga earned the second of two European Performance Spots handed out by UEFA, which go to associations “with the best collective performance by their clubs” in UEFA competitions.
England’s Premier League was the first to secure an extra berth in Europe’s top competition, on top of the four granted to the top four teams in the domestic table.
Villarreal are fifth in the LaLiga standings, with 51 points from 30 matches.
They are three points ahead of sixth-placed Real Betis and eight in front of Celta Vigo and Mallorca, with all three clubs having played one more game than Villarreal.
-Reuters
Real Madrid’s record-breaking manager Carlo Ancelotti had no complaints after his side’s Champions League reign was ended in emphatic fashion by Arsenal in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Italian Ancelotti won a record-extending fifth Champions League trophy last season as Real beat Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, but his side went down 2-1 at home to Arsenal for a crushing 5-1 aggregate defeat.
“There are two sides to football, the happy part that has happened to us many times and the sad part we have to handle in the same way. It has happened to us fewer times than to other teams, but we have to manage it because it allows us to be better in the next games.”
When Real keeper Thibaut Courtois saved Bukayo Saka’s early penalty and minutes later Real were awarded a spot kick for a push by Declan Rice on Kylian Mbappe, it seemed that the great escape might still be a possibility.
But Real’s penalty was overturned after a lengthy VAR check, and in truth, they never looked remotely threatening as their bid for a 16th European Cup crown ended in feeble fashion.
“To change the dynamic, we needed something positive, like the penalty he whistled and then took off. We needed something to have more confidence, but we were not able to change the dynamic of the first leg,” Ancelotti said.
Despite the defeat, Ancelotti said Real’s season still has plenty of possibilities, not least trying to bridge a four-point gap to La Liga leaders Barcelona.
“Now we are in the fight for La Liga. We have a disadvantage, but we have the Barcelona game, we have the Copa del Rey final, the Club World Cup, and we have to manage this part, which is another part of football that we are not used to,” he said.
“It’s time to hold our heads high and learn from our mistakes. It’s sad today, but I have absolutely no worries about how my players will respond. We’ll fight on, we’ll learn from the experience, and we’ll try to be better for the next match.”
-Reuters
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Arsenal snuffed out any chance of a famous Real Madrid comeback to reach the Champions League semi-finals after a 2-1 victory in the Bernabeu Stadium completed a 5-1 aggregate win on Wednesday.
Holders and 15-time winners Real never looked like clawing back a 3-0 deficit from last week’s quarter-final first leg, and when Bukayo Saka scored for the visitors in the 65th minute, their fate was effectively sealed.
Vinicius Junior seized on a rare defensive slip a couple of minutes later to rouse the home crowd, but it proved too little too late as Carlo Ancelotti’s side exited feebly.
Arsenal’s superiority over the two legs was underlined in stoppage time as Gabriel Martinelli burst through to score.
They will face Paris St Germain in their first Champions League semi-final since 2009.
“I think it’s such a special night for this club, it’s a historic night for this club,” said Arsenal’s Declan Rice, whose two sublime free kicks put his side in control last week.
“There was a lot of talk coming in about them coming back from the dead, they’ve done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game.”
A cacophony of noise greeted kickoff with the home fans fuelled by the hope of witnessing what would have been one of the greatest Champions League comebacks.
But Real’s knack of extricating themselves from difficult positions in a competition they won six times in the previous 11 seasons deserted them as they were comprehensively outplayed.
“Did we fall short of what we wanted in pure football terms? Perhaps,” Real captain Lucas Vazquez said. “They really are terrifically organised defensively.”
PENALTY MISS
Real needed a storming start, and Mbappe had the ball in the Arsenal net in the opening minutes but was offside when chesting in a Vinicius cross.
Arsenal were in no mood to simply sit and protect their lead, though, and Saka forced a great save from Courtois. They were handed the chance to kill off the tie when Raul Asencio needlessly hauled down Mikel Merino from a corner, and referee Francois Letexier eventually awarded a penalty after checking a pitch-side VAR monitor.
Saka opted for a Panenka-style chipped penalty, and Courtois clawed away the ball.
It looked like a potentially pivotal moment, and when Letexier pointed to the penalty spot at the other end after Kylian Mbappe tumbled under minimal contact from Rice, Arsenal’s night looked like taking a turn for the worse.
After five painstaking minutes, however, Letexier was again invited by VAR to view the monitor and to a chorus of whistles from the home fans, overturned his original decision.
That scare aside, Arsenal coped easily with Real Madrid’s famed frontline who were given little to work with.
Arsenal keeper David Raya was not required to make a save before halftime as Real’s predilection for hopeful crosses into the area proved easy pickings for the visiting defence.
Real’s Mbappe barely had a sniff of a chance as Arsenal showed great control and Saka made up for his first-half miss with a clinical finish after being sent clear by Merino.
William Saliba gifted Real a lifeline when he was caught in possession on the edge of his area, allowing Vinicius to score, but there was never any sense of panic in the visiting ranks.
Martinelli put the icing on the cake in added time, again from a Merino assist, to send Arsenal’s fans into raptures.
-Reuters
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