Wednesday, 18 March 2015
Champions League : Atletico win 3-2 in dramatic penalty shootout
A deflected first-half Mario Suárez shot and some hopeless Leverkusen penalties saw Atlético Madrid reach the Champions League quarter-finals
Following a 1-0 defeat in the first leg in Germany, Atletico levelled the tie in the 27th minute when Mario Suarez's strike deflected in off Omer Toprak. Raul Garcia went closest to a winner for Atletico in extra time but Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno saved.
Hakan Calhanoglu, Toprak and Stefan Kiessling all missed for Leverkusen as Atletico won 3-2 in the shootout.
Substitute keeper Jan Oblak was an unlikely hero for Atletico, last year's beaten finalists, after replacing Miguel Angel Moya, who limped off with a hamstring injury midway through the first half.
Oblak has failed to become Atletico's first choice since his £12.6m move from Benfica as a replacement for Thibaut Courtois, who returned to Chelsea after three years on loan.
But the 22-year-old Slovenian saved Calhanoglu's penalty after Garcia had missed the hosts' first kick.
Atletico's Koke also had a spot-kick saved after Toprak missed before Kiessling blasted the 10th and final kick high over the bar, sending the Spaniards into Friday's quarter-final draw along with the already-qualified Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain, Porto and Monaco.
It was a cruel finish for Leverkusen, who were hoping to reach the last eight for the first time since since reaching the final in 2002.
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