Champions League: Griezmann among goals as Atletico gain upper hand
Manchester/Leverkusen: Sergio Aguero starred as Manchester City beat Monaco 5-3 in a breathless and dizzyingly end-to-end Champions League last 16 first-leg encounter at a rocking Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
Raheem Sterling put City ahead, only for Kylian Mbappe to level and Radamel Falcao to score twice — the second goal a magnificent chip — as Leonardo Jardim’s side moved into a 3-2 lead.
But City struck three times in the last 19 minutes, through Aguero’s second goal, John Stones and Leroy Sane, to put Pep Guardiola’s men in charge ahead of the return leg on March 15.
For a long time it looked likely to be a scarring night for City, who reached the semi-finals last season, as a succession of calamitous defensive errors allowed Monaco to take control.
But Aguero’s doggedness allowed them to haul themselves back into the game, abetted by Falcao’s failure to convert a penalty early in the second period.
Having recently lost his place in the team to Gabriel Jesus, only to regain it after the Brazilian broke his foot, it was a personal triumph for Aguero, who departed to a standing ovation.
Mbappe took Valere Germain’s place alongside Falcao in Monaco’s starting XI and the 18-year-old in the flourescent orange boots immediately caught the eye.
He looked to run at City’s defence at every opportunity, at one point leaving Nicolas Otamendi for dead twice in five seconds before setting up Benjamin Mendy, who was thwarted by Willy Caballero.
Kamil Glik’s evening got off to a bad start when he was booked for taking out Sane, ruling him out of the return leg, but he came close to putting Monaco ahead with a header from a corner. It was City, though, who went in front in the 26th minute.
Sane lit the fuse, dancing away from three players on the City left and exchanging passes with David Silva before crossing for Sterling to slide home from close range.
But within six minutes Monaco were level as Guardiola’s goalkeeping problems came back to bite him.
Meanwhile, Antoine Griezmann was among the scorers for Atletico Madrid as they weathered a late storm against Bayer Leverkusen to claim a 4-2 victory in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Saul Niguez and Antoine Griezmann scored to put the Spanish side two goals up at the interval, but Leverkusen pulled one back through Karim Bellarabi at the start of the second half.
A Kevin Gameiro penalty then restored Atletico’s two-goal advantage just before the hour mark, and while a Stefan Savic own goal gave Leverkusen hope again, Fernando Torres came off the bench to make it 4-2 late on.
The home side put in a brave performance and came close to equalising in the last 10 minutes, but Torres’ late goal sealed a deserved victory for the visitors ahead of the return in Spain next month.
Leverkusen started brightly, while Atletico looked to hit them on the break, and in the opening 10 minutes both had chances. But in the 17th minute, the away side pounced. Cutting in from the right, Saul Niguez curled a fine shot into the far corner from the edge of the penalty area.
Atletico then grasped the game by the scruff of the neck and in the 25th minute a mistake by Aleksandar Dragovic allowed Gameiro to run at goal. He then squared the ball to Griezmann, who rifled a shot past Bernd Leno. To their credit, Leverkusen rallied and Kevin Kampl forced an excellent save from Miguel Angel Moya from long range.
Only a fine stop by Leno at the other end prevented Griezmann from scoring again but Leverkusen quickly pulled a goal back at the start of the second half. Benjamin Henrichs found space on the right and delivered a low cross which Karim Bellarabi turned into the far corner.
It was no less than the Leverkusen forwards deserved, but their defence continued to struggle. Gameiro first hit the bar before extending Atletico’s lead from the penalty spot just before the hour mark.
Dragovic was at fault again as he wrestled Gameiro to the ground in the penalty area and the Frenchman calmly struck the ball down the middle to make it 3-1.
Leverkusen refused to give up, and an own goal gifted them another route back into the game on 66 minutes. (AFP)