Atletico Madrid advance to the round of 16 after a tightly fought 3-1 win in Portugal, which sees Porto drop into the Europa League.
Luis Suarez’s night ended early after he was replaced by Matheus Cunha in the 13th-minute. It looked as if the tearful Uruguayan picked up a knock in the opening minutes.
Atletico Madrid had a great chance to take the lead in the 23rd minute. Antoine Greizmann had an empty net to aim at after a ball from Yannick Carrasco fizzed across the goal via a deflection off Thomas Lemar at the front post, but Griezmann couldn’t quite connect as he arrived in behind.
Porto had a flurry of chances towards the end of the first period, but Jan Oblak kept the scores level as the team’s headed for the break after a string of important stops.
Atletico took the lead just before the hour mark through Griezmann. Lemar swung in a corner that met the head of Geoffrey Kondogbia, whose flick-on found Griezmann unmarked at the back post who was able to tap Atletico on the opener.
The game spiralled into chaos as a fight broke out after Carrasco was shown red for grappling his opponent by the neck and throwing him to the ground. Porto substitution Wendell was also sent off in the aftermath.
Angel Correa broke away from a struggling Porto defence and buried a second in the 90th minute to double Madrid’s lead. It was game over when Rodrigo de Paul fired in an effort from close range to make in 3-0 deep into added time.
Porto pulled a goal back in the final seconds through a Sergio Oliveira penalty, but it would only be a consolation.
At some point during the evening, Porto, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan were sitting in second place and ready to enter the knockout phases of the competition. Liverpool beat AC Milan, which meant an Atletico win saw them finish second, whilst a loss for Porto means they enter the next stages of the Europa League.
It could have gone either way for all three sides, with only a point separating them at the start of the night. It wasn’t to be for Milan, whereas Madrid can probably count themselves lucky to be in the hat for the round of 16 draw. Porto will take some comfort in the fact they’re still in European competition, as a Milan victory would have seen the Portuguese side finish bottom.
Considered one of the best goalkeepers on the planet, he certainly earned his title tonight. He made a handful of crucial saves whilst Porto were enjoying a dangerous spell of possession towards the end of the first half.
His stand out save came with the score level at 0-0, Luis Diaz stabbed an effort towards goal from close range which was superbly met by the hands of Oblak to see the ball out of danger.