Atletico and PSG cruise into Champions League quarters
Atletico Madrid’s Marcos Llorente (centre) scores against Liverpool during their Champions League Round of 16 second leg match on Wednesday. Reuters
Elsewhere, Paris Saint-Germain players celebrated with supporters gathered outside the ground after Neymar set them on their way to a 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund behind closed doors on Wednesday, taking them through to the Champions League quarter-finals 3-2 on aggregate.
Meanwhile, the Champions League last 16, second legs between Manchester City and Real Madrid and Juventus and Lyon became the latest high-profile football matches to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, UEFA confirmed on Thursday.
Liverpool looked to have ended Atletico’s dogged resistence when Roberto Firmino put them ahead in the tie after Georginio Wijnaldum’s first-half header forced the game into an extra 30 minutes.
However, Liverpool were made to rue a host of missed chances to kill the tie off in 90 minutes as Llorente twice curled home from outside the box before Morata twisted the knife by breaking away to score in added time of extra time.
Defeat ends Jurgen Klopp’s proud record of never losing a two-legged European tie as Liverpool manager.
However, it remains to be seen if and when the last eight will even be able to take place due to the chaos caused across the continent by the new coronavirus.
The European champions did not manage a single shot on target in a 1-0 defeat in Madrid three weeks ago, but Jan Oblak was quickly put to work.
Wijnaldum’s flicked header offered a warning for Atletico of what was to come before Oblak parried Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s driven effort.
Just as the Spaniards thought the job was half done with no damage done, Wijnaldum’s powerful downward header left Oblak with no chance two minutes before the break.
The goal did not change Atletico’s approach as they played a risky game and relied on Oblak to keep them in the game.
The Slovenian saved from Mohamed Salah, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Firmino as Liverpool missed a number of chances that ultimately came back to cost them.
Andy Robertson came closest to the knockout blow with a close-range header that came back off the bar before he, Mane and Salah all fired over.
Atletico thought they had stolen the tie with the last touch of the 90 minutes when Saul Niguez headed home a free-kick, but the Spanish international was flagged offside to send the tie to an extra 30 minutes.
Despite Liverpool being on the brink of a first Premier League title in 30 years, their number nine Firmino had not scored at home all season until four minutes into extra-time.
The Brazilian’s header from Wijnaldum’s cross came back off the post and perfectly back into his path to slot home with Oblak grounded.
However, no sooner had Liverpool gone in front for the first time in the tie than Atletico hit back with a sucker-punch.
The visitors had barely tested stand-in Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian, but the loss of Alisson Becker to a hip injury eventually proved Liverpool’s downfall.
PSG needed to overturn a 2-1 defeat in the first leg of their last-16 tie in Germany, but Neymar’s 28th-minute header put them ahead on the night in the second leg amid a surreal atmosphere, as banned supporters congregated outside the Parc des Princes instead.
Juan Bernat then deflected in a Pablo Sarabia assist to make it 2-0 and PSG -- for whom Kylian Mbappe was only fit enough to appear as a substitute -- go through to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2016. Dortmund finished the night with 10 men after Emre Can was sent off.
Neymar was caught on camera in tears after the match, having shaken off desperate disappointment in the competition in the last two years, with injury preventing him from playing in the second leg against Real Madrid at this stage in 2018 and in both legs against Manchester United last season.
Dortmund were disappointing, though, with Erling Braut Haaland never looking like repeating his first-leg heroics when he netted twice.
Agence France-Presse
