Marko Arnautovic could have been a culprit for a potential tragedy because of three misses; however, ten minutes before the end he managed to push the ball into the net of Atletico Madrid and give Inter an advantage before the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League (1-0).With a goal ahead, the players of the Milan club travel to Spain, but they are far from being carefree. ‘Unused’ dominance for most of the game and several missed opportunities could cost Simone Inzaghi’s side dearly in three weeks’ time if they are not focused enough. It is well known how Atlético play in their stadium. In the Champions League, it has been unbeaten as a host since November 2021, while looking at all competitions, it experienced only one defeat in the previous year, and it was recently, by Athletic Bilbao 1-0 in Copa del Rey. In other matches during the past 12 months, the Mattress Makers mostly won at the Metropolitan.Hence, there is caution in the ranks of the Nerazzurri after the first game.”Although it’s nice that we won tonight, this 1-0 doesn’t mean much. We go to Madrid with an advantage, but we haven’t done anything yet. We’ll have to play like it’s 0-0 and go for the win. We’ll have to be at the highest level in order to continue the competition and reach where we were last year, which is the finals,” said Henrik Mkhitaryan right after the match at Giuseppe Meazza.UCL: Third time lucky for veteran Arnautovic as Inter take the lead over AtletiLast night’s scorer Marko Arnautović is also aware that his team has a tough job ahead of them in Madrid.”We know it will be difficult there, this 1-0 means nothing, we start as if it’s 0-0 and we’re going to win,” said the Austrian international.The experienced forward thanked the fans and teammates for their support in moments when he was not doing well.”We created a lot of chances, but we had a team that defends well against us. Fortunately, we scored at least one goal, which is certainly among the most important in my career. This is not an easy period for me, it took me some time to recover since the injury, I’ve had a lot of chances where I didn’t score, and goals are what I’m brought in for. That’s why I wanted to score a lot tonight, and my teammates and fans supported me after two misses, and that was a big thing for me. They gave me the energy I needed to score a goal,” Arnautović explained.Marko Arnautovic has scored two goals at home in his UEFA Champions League career: – For Werder Bremen VERSUS Inter (10/11)- FOR Inter vs Atletico (23/24) pic.twitter.com/AFCC95oNGS— LiveScore (@livescore) February 21, 2024 Jan Oblak said that nothing is over yet.”The details decided the game. We conceded a goal from our mistake, but such things happen in football and we have to stay positive. We have one more game and if we give our best, I believe we can go through. In the first half tonight we were good, at the beginning of the second created a few chances for us and that’s where we fell. In games like this, that shouldn’t happen, because if you’re not perfect the whole match, the opponent will punish you. After the goal, the coach asked us to start and concentrate because we have the second leg ahead of us. Nothing is resolved,” the Atletico Madrid goalkeeper pointed out.Eight times in its history, Atlético lost the first game of the knockout phase of a UEFA competition with 1-0, and on three occasions they managed to turn it around and advance to the next round. It was twice in the Champions League, against German rivals Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen, and once in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, against Belgian Liège.##NAJAVA_MECA_7891901##
