For eighty minutes Atletico Madrid’s stubborn defense repeatedly thwarted Manchester United’s attack, but Sweden’s Anthony Alenga, who came into the match just five minutes earlier, erased Felix’s advantage and set up a 1-1 draw between the teams ten minutes before the end of the 90s tonight. (Wednesday), as part of the first of two games in the last eight of the Champions League.
The game opened with a storm and already in the seventh minute Joao Felix overtook Harry Maguire and reached first to the diagonal level of Renan Lodi, and from there the Portuguese hit the ball wonderfully into the crossbar and inside on the way to the Spaniards’ quick 0-1. Ralph Rangnick’s players struggled to create chances and looked mostly like their own shadow when they repeatedly encountered the Colcheneros defense, which managed to stand every test in the first 45 minutes. On the verge of the half the advantage almost doubled, when Shima Versalico slammed the ball into the head of Victor Lindloff, and from there he continued to the goalpost of David de Gea.
In the second half Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates woke up but had a hard time finding the net despite a number of opportunities. The game became increasingly physical and seemed to end in a narrow victory for Diego Simeone’s side, but Anthony Alenga thought otherwise. The 19-year-old came into the match at the expense of Marcus Rashford in the 75th minute, and in the 80th minute took advantage of a great delivery from Bruno Fernandez to set up an equalizer. In the 87th minute Antoine Griezmann, who also came in as a substitute, was close to sending the sad guest to England, but his kick only hit the crossbar.
Atletico Madrid must have come out of the match disappointed, as it was close to achieving a critical advance ahead of the rematch at Old Trafford on March 15 and was superior. On the other hand, Manchester United can be happy with how the game ended, but they need to understand why they played so weakly in the first half and improve their ability ahead of the meeting at their home stadium.