Sometimes, but not too often, justice is served. And tonight, it was the night for justice. After the first leg, in which Atletico Madrid was dominant throughout the game and deserved to win, but was surprised by a late Elanga goal, in the second game, played tonight, it was United who were trying to attack, but in the end the justice prevailed and the Spanish team, who was better in both games, won at Old Trafford and knocked out the Red Devils: Manchester – Atletico 0-1.Old Trafford.Where dreams come true pic.twitter.com/kA7KPePtFV— Atlético de Madrid (@atletienglish) March 15, 2022 After a great (and maybe surprising) win over Tottenham, in which Cristiano Ronaldo scored hat-trick, even the most suspicious United fans had hope that their hero will lead them to victory again. After all, Ronaldo scored against Atletico more than against any other team. But those days are over. United’s forward is not getting any younger, his supporting cast is not anywhere near the ones he had in Real, and the mighty Simeone’s defensive wall stood untouched this time. The Argentinian coach applied his famous tactics, and that is to close everything, to ’kill’ the beauty, but to prevail and go through. And he did it again. Atletico was the better team in both games and goes to the next round completely deservedly, while United has a tough task to somehow grab the fourth place in the Premier League.3 – Atlético Madrid are the only side in UEFA Champions League history to eliminate all three English winners of the competition in knockout ties – Chelsea (2013-14 semi-final), Liverpool (2019-20 last 16) and Man Utd (2021-22 last 16). Thorn. pic.twitter.com/VrgHsozOVo— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 15, 2022 But it could have been different, much different if only Elanga, who started again ahead of Rashford scored an early goal for the hosts. It was 13th minute when the Swede picked up Fernandes’ cross from the right, but somehow, the ball shot Atletico’s keeper in the face and went out. Just two minutes later, De Gea has to stretch himself completely in order to prevent De Paul from scoring a stunner from 25 meters. As expected, the guests were sitting deep (both attackers were in their own half when United had the ball) and daring the hosts to attack them. Manchester had the initiative, but it’s not easy to score against Simeone’s defense. In fact, Atletico scored first after United’s mistake in midfield, but luckily for the hosts, Llorente was offside prior to Griezmann’s goal. But, minutes later, no offside, 1-0 to Atletico. Reinildo took the ball from Elanga (United players thought it was a foul), passed the ball to Griezmann, who’s cross was met by Lodi, who was completely alone (thanks to Dalot) and scored for the lead.Second half was much boring as Simeone and his team tightened the defense even more, and even when United managed to break the defensive wall, the mighty Atletico keeper was there to prove again and again that he is one of the top 5 keepers in Europe right now. Sancho had a wonderful chance in the 59th minute, but the ball went over the goal, and then the Atletico keeper made a one hand save after a fantastic header from Varane. Rangnick tried everything, he brough in Rashford, Pogba and Matic, then added Cavani and even Huan Mata, but Simeone’s wall was too tough this time for United.In the second match of the evening, Benfica made a surprise win in Holland and went to the next round of the Champions League. Ajax’s fairytale is over, 2019 remains unrepeatable. For now. Although many considered them dark horse favorites for the finals of the Champions League, they were stopped at the first hurdle after the group stage. Benfica, which failed in Portugal this season too many times and has not been a serious competitor for the title for a long time, managed to celebrate with a score of 1:0 in the middle of Amsterdam and secure a place among the eight best teams on the old continent. The Portuguese coach obviously did a great job after playing catch up with Ajax in the first match (2-2). Aware that he could not go hand in hand with the Dutch, he decided to sacrifice beauty and spectacle for the sake of results and fame. It was 90 painful minutes to watch when it comes to the guests from Lisbon. Verisimo gambled, and gambled seriously, but won at the end. One shot for 90 minutes, one goal and they are through. UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUERound of 16, second legTuesday, 8 MarchBayern – Salzburg 7-1 (4-0)/Lewandowski 12 (p), 21 (p), 23, Gnabry 31, Muller 54, 83, Sane 85 – Kjaergaard 71/Liverpool – Inter 0-1 (0-0)/Lautaro 61/Wednesday, 9 MarchReal Madrid – PSG 3-1 (0-1)/Benzema 61, 76, 78 – Mbappe 39/Manchester City – Sporting 0-0Tuesday, 15 MarchAjax – Benfica 0-1 (0-0)/Nunez 77/Man.Utd. – Atl.Madrid 0-1 (0-1)/Lodi 41/Wednesday, 16 March23.00: (2.00) Juventus (3.50) Villareal (4.10)23.00: (4.10) Lille (3.50) Chelsea (2.00)***odds are subject to change
