Atletico 2-1 Dortmund: De Paul & Lino seal first-leg victory, Haller strikes
Atletico Madrid made the perfect possible start to their UEFA Champions League quarter-final with an entertaining 2-1 win over Borussia Dortmund at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Goals from Rodrigo de Paul and Samuel Lino were the difference between the two sides, with an error-ridden away side riddled with nerves at a bouncing and intimidating cauldron in Madrid.
In an uncharacteristic start for a Diego Simeone side, the hosts started with an aggressive press, harnessing the raucous home support, and they seized upon a Dortmund error inside five minutes as Ian Maatsen’s loose pass was capitalised on by Rodrigo De Paul, who gobbled up the opportunity to put the hosts in the ascendancy.
It was two just after the half hour as Lino doubled the advantage, slotting home after a sweeping move that stemmed from a Nahuel Molina long throw.
The two Dortmund centre-backs, Mats Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck, got themselves in a tangle underneath it, and the ball fell kindly for Alvaro Morata to poke into the path of Antoine Griezmann, who found the onrushing Lino with a delicate scooped pass, and the Brazilian wing-back stroked home.
Dortmund halved the deficit with 10 minutes to go as substitutes Julian Brandt and Sebastien Haller combined, with Brandt’s deft pass around the corner fell kindly for the Ivorian, who swivelled on a sixpence and fired instinctively into the bottom corner.
The German side continued to bang on the door in search of an equaliser, and young English forward Jamie Bynoe-Gittens went close with a powerful left-footed effort that flicked off the head of Cesar Azpilicueta en route to it clipping the crossbar.
However, Atletico did what they usually do: they clung on - somehow - and they will head to Dortmund with a
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