Atletico Madrid have booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League courtesy of a penalty shootout victory over Bayer Leverkusen this evening.
Last season's beaten finalists managed to overcome their first-leg deficit thanks to Mario Suarez's first-half strike, and it was the home side who held their nerve at the Vicente Calderon to progress through on penalties following a 1-0 win on the night.
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Following a somewhat tentative start to the match, Karim Bellarabi found himself a yard of space outside the box to fire away the first real attempt of the game with a shot that deflected narrowly wide of the target.
Neither side could really assert any authority on the game inside the opening quarter, but it was the visitors who really should have edged ahead when Son Heung-min latched on to Lars Bender's through-ball, only for his composure to evade him with the chance going begging.
Atletico were dealt a blow when Miguel Moya was forced off with a hamstring injury soon after, Jan Oblak the man to replace him, although it was they who took the lead thanks to Suarez's deflected strike which found its way into the bottom corner.
Mario Mandzukic spurned a great chance to double his side's advantage on the night when played through by Arda Turan, although he was denied by Wendell's fine challenge.
The Brazilian turned provider moments later when he delivered a cross into the near post, but Miranda managed to get to the ball ahead of Hakan Calhanoglu to put a halt to the attacking move.
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Leverkusen, who came into this game on the back of a four-game winning run, were the more cautious side in the second period as they allowed their opponents onto them for large parts, although Atletico struggled to create any real openings.
Turan could not quite keep his effort down after being picked out by Antoinne Griezmann as the Rojiblancos continued to plug away, while Raul Garcia failed to make contact with the ball on the end of Koke's near-perfect cross to the back post.
The best chances continued to fall the way of the home side in the closing stages of the contest, as Turan twice came close to finding a way through, but in the end the Rojiblancos had to settle for extra time.
Following a short period of end-to-end play, Bernd Leno was required to keep out Garcia's shot which looked to be heading right for the back of the net.
Just eight minutes of time remained at the end of extra time when Simon Rolfes fired in a shot from all of 40 yards which flew narrowly over the crossbar, giving the La Liga outfit a real scare.
Both sides seemed happy to settle for penalty kicks at this stage, and with chances thin on the ground spot kicks were indeed needed to separate the pair.
Garcia fired the shootout's first pen over the bar, although he was soon redeemed by Oblak who denied Calhanoglu as both teams failed to get off the mark. The next three were successfully converted, although it was advantage Atleti when Toprak fired over.
Leno then denied Koke to ensure that things remained tight, but after the next two penalties were tucked away, Kiessling failed to find the net with what proved to be the final spot kick to spark scenes of joy inside the Vicente Calderon.
Daniel Lewis
