Bayern Munich 2-1 Atletico Madrid (agg 2-2): Diego Simeone's side book Champions League final
Bayern
Munich will never be European Champions under Pep Guardiola after
Manchester City’s manager-in-waiting completed a hat-trick of semi-final
defeats in this loss against Diego Simone’s phenomenal Atletico Madrid.
Three
times Guardiola has taken the Germans to the last four and watched them
fall against Spanish opponents. Last year it was Barcelona, the year
before Real Madrid. This time it was Simeone’s soldiers, who reach their
second final in three years, who were just too strong.
Much
was said about the clash of styles in the build-up to the game but this
was more about substance than anything else and no team has more
substance than Atletico.
They
gave the defensive performance of their lives, and when they needed a
goal Antoine Griezmann raced from the halfway line and coolly slotted
the ball past Manuel Neuer, cancelling out Xabi Alonso’s first half
free-kick.
Antoine Griezmann points towards Fernando Torres after his assist, which saw Atletico Madrid equalise at the Allianz Arena
The France international was marginally offside from the through ball but made no mistake to slot past Manuel Neuer
Robert Lewandowski gave Bayern Munich hope but the Germans crashed out of the semi-final on away goals
Xabi Alonso (centre) celebrates with
his team-mates after getting Bayern off to the perfect start, levelling
the score on aggregate
The former Liverpool midfielder saw his low free-kick deflect off Jose Gimenez and end up in the back of the Atletico net
Bayern players (from left) Arturo Vidal, Muller and David Alaba walk off dejected after crashing out of the Champions League
(From left) Koke, Gabi and Saul Niguez
raise their hands to the Atletico fans after booking their place in the
Champions League final
Atletico
have averaged 25.5 per cent possession across in their last four
Champions League games but with so little, they achieve so much.
The
first half in Munich had been a continuation of the second half of the
first leg in Madrid with Bayern battering Atletico’s defence and
Simeone’s side somehow standing firm.
There
were 13 Bayern shots in the first 20 minutes but with Diego Godin back
marshalling the defence and goalkeeper Jan Oblak immense behind him
there was no way through.
(From left) Torres, Stefan Savic, Saul Niguez and Thomas Partey celebrate with the away fans at the Allianz Arena
Diego Simeone (left) punches the air in celebration while Bayern boss Pep Guardiola holds his head after his side crashed out
Thomas Muller saw his penalty saved by Jan Oblak in the first half after Gimenez was penalised for fouling Javi Martinez
Torres saw a second penalty of the game saved after Neuer got down low to palm his effort away from the penalty box
Bayern's Robert Lewandowski (right)
was denied an opener in the first half after his effort was blocked by
the Slovenia international
Thomas Muller (right) looks to close down Augusto Fernandez as Bayern pressed the Spanish side from the first whistle
Atletico goalkeeper Oblak (right) rises highest to punch the ball away as Pep Guardiola's side pushed for an opener
They
are used to a different sort of yellow wall in Germany but the
yellow-jerseyed keeper blocked Lewandowski at his near post on 20
minutes to keep out Bayern’s best early chance.
When the Bayern onslaught finally found a way past the Slovenian it was via a deflection from one of his own defenders.
Augusto
Fernandez upended David Alaba on the edge of the area and from the
free-kick Alonso’s shot hit the inside of Jose Gimenez’ knee and went
past the Atletico keeper.
There
was worse to come for the young Uruguayan centre-back when he dragged
Martinez back in the penalty area and Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir
pointed to the spot.
Up
stepped Muller but he failed to beat Oblak, who not only saved the
spot-kick but sprang up to throw himself at Alonso’s attempt to turn-in
the rebound.
Tempers
were now beginning to flare and none more than Ribery’s. He had already
lost his head after the penalty and needed to be pulled away by
team-mates from Atletico players.
After
a Juanfran elbow downed Lewandoski there was a free-for-all in-front of
the two benches and the Frenchman had Simeone of all people by the
sleeves of his black coat.
Guardiola called for calm from his players. His team had done half the job by scoring once.
Atletico could surely not hold out under such pressure for another 45 minutes.
They could do better than that – they could score within 10 minutes of the restart.
Griezmann
and Torres were partners in crime parked on the halfway line as the
ball was played forward. The Frenchman touched it to Torres who released
him just onside and he raced to the edge of the area and shot past
Neuer. Bayern now needed to score twice.
Lewandowski
headed in from close range but there was not a second, as Atletico came
closest to troubling the scoreboard. Torres was brought down by
Martinez only to miss the penalty.
‘That would have finished it early,’ he said, ‘but it’s nice to win having suffered.’
It meant Atletico had to suffer until the last whistle but nobody is as good at that at Atletico Madrid.
They
ran themselves into the ground. And Simeone seemed to take every step
with them inside – and often outside – his technical area. Now they are
off to Milan together.
Franck Ribery (right) is brought down by Atletico captain Gabi as the Spaniards gave their counterparts little space to play
Arturo Vidal (left) closes down Koke as Bayern dominated the opening exchanges between the two sides
Fernando Torres (left) and Saul Niguez close down Bayern's players as David Alaba looks to clear the ball down the pitch
Ribery and Diego Simeone squared up on the touchline as tempers began to flare at the Allianz Arena
Bayern boss Guardiola then got involved to break-up the incident between his player and Atletico's manager
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