MADRID (BUTERS RO) – Atletico Madrid stormed out against locomotive Moscow but had a disappointing 0-0 home draw in the Champions League on Wednesday to reach the knockout stages.
Atletico thought they had a breakthrough in the second half when Cone was fouled by a shot from Yannick Carresco but the goal was taken out of a tight range after a TAR review.
Defender Jose Gimnez missed a great chance to catch the winner in the final stage, moving to meet a corner but stood around the outpost.
The draw left Atletico second in Group A with five points after four matches, and Locomotive third. Byron Min Munich has qualified with 12 while RB Salzburg is in last place with one.
Atletico’s hosts Bayern are due to travel to Salzburg in their final game next week and could have to win both games to guarantee their place in the last 16.
“We are very angry, the Champions League is not waiting for anyone,” Koke said.
“We’ve been playing well lately but now we have to win our next games. We started with a lot of intensity and there were a lot of possibilities but sometimes the ball didn’t want to go in.”
Atletico coach Diego Simeone was denied the luxury of touring his team after a number of players were ruled out due to injury or positive coronavirus tests and he was named in the 11-0 win over Barcelona in La Liga on Saturday. Started with 10 of the players.
His side were still flying and Marcos Llorente should have taken the lead in the second minute when he crossed Joe Felix, but failed to make proper contact with the next ball for 126 million euros.
Lolernet, Yannick Carresco and Angel Correa tested touring keeper Gilharam in the first half, while Atletico ended the match with 20 shots on four locomotive goals, while the visitors had just one goal.
The locomotive stole almost one winner in a time combined with a rare venture in Atletico’s territory but Stephen Sevic posed a significant challenge to stop it which would have been a disastrous goal for the Spaniards and a lifeline for the Russians.
“We weren’t clinical, we lacked freshness but we played well, we were intense and wanted to win, and we could have scored a few goals in the first 20 minutes,” Simon said.
“The Champions League is going to be a bit difficult for us but we hope we can do better in our next game.”
(Reporting by Richard Martin; Editing by Claire Fallon and Ed Osmond)
