Diego Simeone was annoyed by Atletico Madrid’s failure to capitalise on their management of their 2-1 loss to Actual Madrid within the first-leg of their final 16 Champions League tie.
After Rodrygo had put Carlo Ancelotti’s aspect forward, Julian Alvarez restored parity within the thirty second minute with a shocking curling effort that crashed off the put up on its method in.
Alvarez has now scored seven objectives in 9 appearances within the Champions League this season, with solely Diego Costa in 2013-14 and Vava in 1958-59 (each eight) scoring extra of their first European marketing campaign for Atletico.
Following their equaliser, the guests had been capable of unsettle Actual and dominate possession, however they had been unable to show that into clear-cut probabilities for themselves.
And their profligacy was punished 10 minutes into the second half when Brahim Diaz danced his method into the realm earlier than ending previous Jan Oblak from shut vary.
Certainly, Atletico have now misplaced every of their final 4 away video games within the knockout phases of the Champions League, their longest shedding run away from dwelling at this stage of the competitors since 1969-1971 (5).
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Simeone, nonetheless, mentioned he was pleased with how his group reacted to Rodrygo’s early opener, including that he felt assured they may flip the tie round within the second leg.
“We should always have taken higher benefit once we had management of the sport,” he mentioned. “It’s troublesome to take dangers in order that with any counter-attack you find yourself shedding the sport.
“We managed that scenario very effectively, however we had been lacking (one thing) within the ultimate metres.”
Simeone was additionally assured that the environment in entrance of their very own supporters would give his gamers an edge to mount a comeback, as they did towards Inter at this stage of the competitors final 12 months.
However that job may have been made even tougher within the closing phases, with Kylian Mbappe failing to seek out Vinicius Junior within the ultimate moments after a swift counter-attack.
“Possibly the hope of that no purpose opens the door for what’s to return,” Simeone concluded.
