Only one of the four Spanish clubs continues in the Champions League.
Lukas Hradecky was Leverkusen’s hero in Madrid. Sven Simon, AOP
Porto stuck a knife to Atlético’s throat with their win over Bruges early Wednesday afternoon.
The pajama shirts would have had to beat the crisis club Bayer Leverkusen, so that their own Champions League hopes would still have remained alive.
The pharmaceutical company’s team had hired a former long-term success Xabi Alonso as his coach, and the Basque wanted to show the Madrid audience his skills. There have been a lot of disappointments in Leverkusen’s early season, one of which has undoubtedly been the goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky weak mood.
On Wednesday, however, the man from Turku was a man in his place. Hradecky made a string of top saves as Leverkusen fought out a valuable 2-2 draw at Cívitas Metropolitano.
Or at least that was the case when the French judge Clement Turpin whistled the match over for the first time.
After that, however, a completely new show started at Cívitas Metropolitano, when Turpin received a voice message about the possibility Piero Hincapié from manual error. The ball was taken to the penalty spot once more, when Yannick Carrasco shouldered the most important kick of the entire Atlético season.
However, the Belgian was not able to surprise Hradecky, and the Huuhkajat coach brilliantly blocked his bet. The draw knew with certainty that Atlético would not continue in the Champions League playoffs. Club Brugge and Porto, the biggest surprise of Eurofall, will make it to the spring of the first competition.
Barça dropped
Wednesday was miserable for the Spanish teams. FC Barcelona found out about the expiration of their own Champions League route even before the start of their own match.
Inter didn’t give Viktoria Plzeň any chances. The Blue and Whites beat the numbers with a 4-0 home victory at San Siro, and at the same time made the late-night Barcelona-Bayern Munich match a mere formality.
Of course, Barça’s chances were largely theoretical even before Wednesday. In addition, the team’s level difference to the top of Europe came out coldly, when Bayern jogged to an easy 3-0 away win at Camp Nou.
The story continues after the picture
Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski’s spring is filled with Europa League playoffs. PDO
Of the four Spanish clubs, only Real Madrid continues to the Champions League playoffs. Sevilla and Barcelona will get to the spring rounds of the Europa League after all. Atlético’s final ranking will only be decided in the last round.
The Spurs froze
Manager Antonio Conte autumn at the helm of Tottenham has started miserably.
The Italian didn’t get an easy win in the Champions League either, when tiny Sporting came to get a 1-1 draw point from London.
Even more embarrassing for the white shirts was the fact that the visitors’ goal was scored by Tottenham’s own player Marcus Edwards. The pocket-sized winger never established his place in a Spurs shirt, but in Lisbon the 23-year-old Edwards has really blossomed.
On Wednesday, the hosts’ defense gave too much space to the Englishman. This one didn’t wait for another call, but bombed the ball by Hugo Lloris past the bottom corner.
Uruguayan Rodrigo Bentancur didn’t equalize until the 80th minute by Ivan Perišić from a delicious corner kick.
In Group D, all teams are still within two points. The further places in the group will only be decided in the last round.
Marcus Edwards scored a goal in the net for his parent club. PDO