Champions League: Atletico Madrid stroll into quarters
Monaco/Madrid: Tiemoue Bakayoko’s superb header fired Monaco into the Champions League quarter-finals as 3-1 victory condemned Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to a painful exit on away goals.
Trailing 5-3 from the first leg in England, teenage starlet Kylian Mbappe put Monaco ahead on the night after just eight minutes at the Stade Louis II and Brazilian midfielder Fabinho converted the home side’s second just before the half hour.
Leroy Sane’s 71st-minute goal handed City a 6-5 advantage on aggregate, but Bakayoko turned home Thomas Lemar’s free-kick 13 minutes from time as Monaco claimed a famous win.
Monaco go through to Friday’s draw for the last eight in Nyon carrying French hopes following Paris Saint-Germain’s shock elimination, while Guardiola suffered his earliest Champions League exit as a manager.
“We played an exceptional second half, but the first one we forgot to be there,” Guardiola told BT Sport.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals for a fourth consecutive season but had goalkeeper Jan Oblak to thank for avoiding defeat in a 0-0 draw with Bayer Leverkusen.
Oblak produced a remarkable triple save midway through the second half as Atletico held on to their 4-2 first-leg advantage to take their place in Friday’s draw for the last eight.
“It is not easy to be in the quarter-finals four years in a row,” Oblak told BeIN Sports Spain.
“I hope Atletico will continue like this, keep growing like in the last few years and I am sure we can achieve great things.”
On a night of few Atletico chances, the home fans didn’t even get to cheer the return of hero Fernando Torres.
Two weeks on from being knocked unconscious in a sickening head clash Atletico boss Diego Simeone left Torres on the bench for the full 90 minutes.
New Leverkusen boss Tayfun Korkut was taking charge of his first Champions League game after Roger Schmidt was sacked when Leverkusen’s first-leg defeat was followed by a 6-2 thrashing at Borussia Dortmund.
Korkut summoned an improved performance from the Germans as they forced Atletico onto the back foot for long spells. (AFP)