Atlético Madrid advanced to the quarterfinals by defeating Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 (3-2 on penalties)
Atletico Madrid vs. Bayer Leverkusen 2015: Final score 1-0 (3-2), Colchoneros advance on penalties
Stefan Kießling missed badly on his penalty kick, sending Atléti on to the next round
Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images
Atléti started the game well thanks to the support of their large and loud crowd, but there were unable to generate a good chance on goal in the opening 20 minutes. Bayer looked sloppy though at times with their passing, but before the Colchoneros could take advantage, they had an injury to deal with.
Goalkeeper Miguel Ángel Moyà injured his hamstring making a play on loose ball in his own area in the 20th minute, forcing backup goalkeeper Jan Oblak into the game and burning one of Diego Simeone’s three subs.
The pressure continued from Atéti and in the 27th minute, they got the goal they needed to even the aggregate scoreline thanks to a bit of luck. A poor clearance to the edge of the box by Bayer allowed Mario Suárez to send a specultive shot in from 20-yards out. Bernd Leno look all set to make an easy save but a last second touch by Ömer Toprak deflected the ball to the right of the keeper, and put the home side up 1-0.
The second half was much the same as the first half with neither team getting any really great chances, though Atléti did come closest sending a show wide of the post. In the end, the two teams couldn’t decide things in regular time and they moved on to an extra 30 minutes of play.
Extra time was devoid of goals, though it did feature several players cramping up and Raúl García taking an inadvertent elbow to the face that drew blood. Despite Simeone’s protestations to the official, there was no call on the play.
So on to penalties we went.
García skied the opening penalty for Atléti over the bar, but Hakan Calhanoglu followed that up by kicking the ball right at Oblak who made the save. Antoine Griezmann scored his chance though in the second round, as did Simon Rolfes for Bayer. Suárez, who scored the only goal of the game, buried his third round penalty, but Toprak missed his well over the crossbar.
Koke was denied by an excellent save from Leno to open the fourth round, while Gonzalo Castro hammered own his penalty to once again even things up at 2-2. Fernando Torres did his job lifting the ball over the diving Leno in the fifth round, putting all the pressure on Stefan Kießling who skied the ball over the crossbar, giving Atléti the victory and a spot in the quarterfinals.
Bayer: Leno, Hilbert, Toprak, Spahić, Wendell, Castro, Bender (Papadopoulos 105’), Bellarabi, Calhanoglu, Heung-Min Son (Rolfes 77’, Drmic (Kießling 69’)
Goals: None
Atléti: Moyà (Oblak 23’), Juanfran, Giménez, Miranda, Gamez; Turan, Suárez, Koke, Cani (Raul García 46’), Griezmann, Mandzukic (Torres 84’)
Goals: Suárez (27’)
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