Suarez double sinks 10-man Atletico
Atletico Madrid were under siege for the majority of their Champions League clash against Barcelona.
|||Fernando Torres was Atletico Madrid’s hero and then became the villain within 10 minutes before halftime as Barcelona came from behind to win the Champions League quarter-final first leg 2-1 at the Nou Camp on Tuesday night.
Veteran Spanish international striker Torres broke the game open in the 25th minute of the opening half with a terrific finish for his 19th Champions League goal.
Koke’s through-ball split the Barca defence wide open up the middle and put Torres in a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen, and he showed great composure to leave the capacity Catalan crowd stunned.
Up to that point, it had been all Barca as Lionel Messi had two excellent chances to open the scoring, first with a shot from outside the box and then a volley off a wonderful Jordi Alba chip across the Atletico defence.
Brazilian superstar Neymar also should have scored when a clear header went over the crossbar following a Dani Alves cross.
But the turning point in what became a tempestuous encounter came in the 35th minute when Torres, who had already been booked, fouled Sergio Busquets from behind and German referee Felix Brych had no hesitation in raising a second yellow and a red.
Atletico survived to halftime with 10 men, but defended too deeply in the second half and were under siege for most of the last 45 minutes. It was inevitable that the breakthrough would come, and it was Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez who bundled the ball into the net from inside the six-yard box for the equaliser.
Eleven minutes later, Atletico had run out of steam in defence, and Dani Alves’ inch-perfect cross from the right was met by Suarez, whose powerful header left Atletico keeper Jan Oblak rooted to the spot.
But Atletico manager Diego Simeone will be delighted that his team were able to deny Barca any further joy on the night, which will give him hope that they can turn things around in the second leg in the Spanish capital on April 13, although they will have to do it without Torres.
Barca boss Luis Enrique, though, will be concerned by the vast number of opportunities that were wasted by his much-vaunted strike-force of Messi, Suarez and Neymar against a 10-man Atletico.
In the other first leg quarter-final on Tuesday, Arturo Vidal’s second-minute goal gave Bayern Munich a vital 1-0 win over Benfica at the Allianz Arena in Germany. But the Portuguese side will be pleased that they only conceded a single strike away from home against the powerful German outfit and will fancy their chances in the second leg on April 13.
On Wednesday night, the two other quarter-finals will see Manchester City travel to France to face Paris Saint-Germain, while Wolfsburg will host Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid in Germany.
ashfak.mohamed@inl.co.za
@IndyCapeSport
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