On Wednesday, Atletico Madrid held on to a 2-1 Champions League quarterfinal first leg victory despite a late charge from the visiting Dortmund team.
Diego Simeone’s team had a commanding lead thanks to goals from Rodrigo De Paul and Samuel Lino in the first half, but Sebastien Haller pulled one back to give the Germans a chance to stay in the match before it returns to Dortmund next week.
After a slow start, Edin Terzic’s team, which is currently fifth in the Bundesliga, showed great improvement and twice struck the woodwork in the closing minutes of a match that saw increased security following threats made by the Islamic State (IS) group against stadiums used for last-eight ties.
With a great desire to seize the chance to advance to the semifinals for the first time since 2017, Atletico Madrid had sprung out of the traps.
Ian Maatsen gave up a free kick, and De Paul gave the home team the lead. Dortmund was unable to withstand the intense pressure of the Rojiblancos.
The ball was passed by goalkeeper Gregor Kobel to the Chelsea defender on loan, but he faltered under duress and played a careless pass that De Paul cheerfully intercepted.
The Argentine international concluded composedly, energizing the already boisterous Metropolitano stadium audience.
Throughout Simeone’s twelve years in charge, Atletico has not dropped any of their home Champions League knockout matches and has persisted in pressing forward with assurance.