Atlético lay the ghost of '74 to rest

A united group of men in blue celebrated whilst those in red sat desolate around them on the pitch. Atlético make the final, Bayern are out. The ghost and trauma of 42 years has been laid to rest. In order to achieve this Atleti put in a performance of tremendous sacrifice against an excellent Bayern side who could do no more. The German side attacked permanently in constant waves and were rebuked by a dogged blue wall of resistance. They scored twice and came up against an inspired Oblak who stopped a first half penalty that would have meant a 2-0 scoreline in the 35th minute, that itself would have been catastrophic for Atlético with so much of the game ahead.

I didn't like the way Atlético played in the first half. Bayern had them pegged back in their area with fine build up play. The pressurized the Spanish side which led to plenty of poor play from Simeone's men. The Argentine coach reacted during the break bringing on Carrasco and the change to 4-3-3 worked. Bayern were less dominant in possession and then Griezmann scored. This was the tonic that Atlético badly needed. The goal forced the Bundesliga side to score a total of three on the night which led to more onslaught. However they came up against a stubbornness and composure in Atleti that was lacking in the first half.

The Spanish side were even afforded the luxury of missing a penalty after Torres was brought down. The spot kick was a carbon copy of that one that Müller missed in the first half and would have eased the level of suffering for the visitors. The final stretch of the game seemed interminable and after approximately seven minutes of added time the final whistle sounded. Goodbye to the trauma and we're half way there to an all Madrid final. Tonight Real Madrid play with no Benzema or Casemiro, but with Cristiano back. The hard part was in Munich and that's already been overcome.