We could have scored more, says Atletico coach Simeone

“I’m proud to become part of Atletico’s history with my goal and hopefully I can carry on making history here”.

Atletico beat them in a penalty shootout in this round in 2015 following heavy defeats to Paris Saint-Germain in 2014 and Barcelona in 2012 over the two legs at the same stage.

And they seemed intent on showing why from the start, meeting Simeone’s demand for a high intensity game. Griezmann probably should have had a hat trick in the first half but was denied by Bernd Leno twice.

Leverkusen on the other hand are in a much worse place than their Spanish counterparts. Aleksandar Dragovic sliced a clearance back towards his own goal. The hosts remained ineffectual on offense and only a good stop by goalkeeper Leno prevented the Saul-Griezmann-Gameiro trio from boosting Atletis advantage to 3-0 at the break.

After a frustrating first half at the Estadio Municipal El Molinon in Gijon on 18th February 2017, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco put Diego Simeone’s side into the lead in the 46th minute only to see them pegged back by a swift equaliser from Sergio Alvarez. Benjamin Henrichs found space on the right and delivered a low cross which Karim Bellarabi turned into the far corner.

The Spaniards, a tad inconsistent at times this season but still fourth in La Liga and winners of a group containing Bayern Munich, will be confident of winning this one, although they will remember how hard Leverkusen pushed them last time. When we had the ball, we counterattacked very fast with Gameiro, Carrasco and Griezmann. Expect Miguel Moya, Sime Vrsaljko, and either Lucas Hernandez and/or Stefan Savic to serve as replacements.

That was not all, though, as Atletico had the final say.

Aguero met an outswinging corner with a sweet volley into the corner and, from another corner, Yaya Toure glanced on Kevin De Bruyne’s cross and Stones was at the far post to poke in a volley.

The home side put in a courageous performance and came close to equalising in the last 10 minutes, but Torres’ late goal sealed a deserved victory for the visitors ahead of the return in Spain next month.