Atletico move a step closer

Munich, May 4 

Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich suffered a third straight Champions League semifinal exit to Spanish opposition as Atletico Madrid reached the final on away goals despite a 2-1 second-leg defeat.

Having won the first leg 1-0 in Spain, Atletico advanced thanks to Antoine Griezmann’s crucial away goal in Munich as the tie finished 2-2 on aggregate.

Xabi Alonso and Robert Lewandowski netted for Bayern on a night when both teams missed penalties.

But it was Atletico who secured a spot in the final in Milan on May 28, where they will face either Real Madrid or Manchester City.

“They were better, but we scored an away goal, which was important,” said Griezmann. “We’re delighted. It was difficult, a really hard game, we had a great opponent in front of us. We had to both defend and try to score. That’s what we did.”

Bayern and Guardiola will rue Thomas Mueller’s saved first-half penalty just after Alonso had given the hosts the lead by crashing home a free-kick.

There was similar drama in the second half when Manuel Neuer saved Fernando Torres’ late penalty attempt for Atletico.

After Griezmann put Atletico level in the second half, Lewandowski gave Bayern brief hope when he headed home, but the Bundesliga leaders could not find the crucial third goal.

Diego Simeone’s Atletico, level on points with Barcelona at the top of La Liga with two games of the campaign left, face a busy few weeks as they prepare for their second Champions league final in three seasons.

Meanwhile, with their dreams of a treble over, Bayern are left to focus on winning a domestic double in Guardiola’s swansong.

“I have given my life for this team, I have fought and given my best,” said Guardiola. “We haven’t reached a Champions League final, but I am proud of this team.

“We played the football we wanted to today and all that was missing was a goal. I am sorry for all the players.” 

Bayern can become the first club to win four consecutive German league titles if they win at Ingolstadt on Saturday. They also face Borussia Dortmund in the German Cup final in Berlin on May 21.

However, their European exit will be a bitter pill to swallow for Bayern after they lost the 2014 semifinal to Real Madrid 5-0 on aggregate and exited at the same stage in 2015 with a 5-3 aggregate defeat to Barcelona.

Having been hammered in the German media for starting the first leg without Mueller, Guardiola included the Germany star and also brought in Jerome Boateng and Franck Ribery for the return. Simeone made just one change from the first leg with centre-back Diego Godin returning in place of Stefan Savic after recovering from a hamstring injury.

Atletico arrived in Munich having won their previous seven games and had not conceded a goal in their previous six. 

However, the latter run was broken when Alonso drilled his free-kick into the net in the 31st minute to level the tie on aggregate. — AFP