On May 10, 2017, the scene was set for something magical to happen in the last-ever European match at the Estadio Vicente Calderon.
Atletico Madrid, trailing 3-0 after a Cristiano Ronaldo hat-trick in the first leg of their semi-final tie against Real Madrid, knew that they needed a miracle if they were to reach the Champions League final.
Los Rojiblancos had reached this stage of the competition after beating Leicester City in the last 16 and then Bayer Leverkusen in the quarter-finals, but the challenge of coming back against Los Blancos – the team who had beaten them in the final in 2013/14 and 2015/16 – was always going to be tough.
Just 16 minutes in, Atletico must have been pinching themselves. The scoreboard read: Atletico Madrid 2-0 Real Madrid.
Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann had grabbed both goals for Diego Simeone’s side, in the 12th and 16th minutes respectively, and that left 74 minutes for Los Colchoneros to push for more.
However, a few minutes prior to the half-time break, Karim Benzema produced a piece of skill that saw the curtain begin to come down on the Calderon.
Trapped in the corner of the pitch, the Real Madrid striker managed to get away from Stefan Savic, Diego Godin and Jose Gimenez before picking out Toni Kroos, whose shot was saved by Jan Oblak, but Isco got to the rebound and poked it past the Slovenian to all but seal Los Blancos’ place in the Champions League final.
Atletico continued to fight from thereon out, but the most impressive part came from the stands, as, in the pouring rain, the more than 50,000 spectators knew it would be their last time at the Calderon, so they cheered on their team until the final whistle and bathed in their final memories in the stadium.
They had dreamed of a miracle for 42 minutes, but Atletico finally died on the shore. Drowned by Benzema’s genius, despite their great and hopeful start.
SOURCE:- allfootballapp
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