Despite losing hope of winning the title on the domestic stage, Atletico Madrid's performance in the Champions League was quite solid, not only knocking out the last runner-up Inter Milan in the quarter-finals, but also beating Ric Dott 2-1 in the first leg of the quarter-finals. The second leg starts in midweek, and the Sheets have a one-goal advantage at the Westphalian Stadium, known as the home of the devil, with the goal of qualifying. In this game, the two teams played a goal battle, Dort won 4-2 at home to Atletico Madrid, and advanced to the semi-finals 5-4 over two legs.
Simeone continued to use the familiar 3-5-2 formation, with Antoine Griezmann and Alvaro Morata in pairs, Cesar Azpilicueta, De Paul, Koke, Marcos Llorente and Molina forming a midfield five, and the defensive trio of Hermoso, Jimenez and Witsel, with Oblak continuing to guard the net for Atletico.
Dort's back-to-back duo continued in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Kerber continuing in goal, Ryerson, Hummels, Schlotterbeck and Maatsen at the back, Sabitzer and Emre Can in midfield, Jadon Sancho, Brandt and Adeyemi lined up and Phil Kruger up front.
After the game started, both sides were not conservative and soon had a good chance to score. Just four minutes into the game, Adeyemi forced a blast down the left flank, and the inverted triangle cross was just right, Sabitzer rushed to meet the ball and pushed it, and Azpilicueta flew to block the must-have goal.
Back at the end, Atletico Madrid played a quick counterattack, Marcos Llorente made a clever pass with his back, Morata stepped forward to form a single knife, and in the face of the attacking Kerber, he actually missed the post with a pick-and-shoot that Simeone on the sidelines was also stunned. In the 18th minute, Dort opened a gap on the right, Ryerson crossed the ball, Phil Krueger struggled to ferry, Adeyemi volleyed at the back post, and failed to test Oblak.
In the 34th minute, Dort finally broke the deadlock: Hummels' outside instep cross was just right, Brandt stopped the ball on the left side of the penalty area and turned around in one go, forced a shot through Oblak's small goal from a small angle, and the ball drilled into the net, 1-0!
Five minutes later, Dort once again tore through Atletico's defence from the left, Sabitzer knocked back in front of the line, Maatsen slapped the horse and fired a low shot into the bottom right corner from a tight angle, and Oblak was reduced to a background again. Dort took a 2-0 lead in an instant, and the overall score became 3-2!
From leading to falling behind, Simeone made a desperate bet and made a substitution as soon as the game restarted, with Angel Correa coming off the bench to remove Alvaro Morata, who had missed a super one-on-one shot.
In the 50th minute, Griezmann crossed from a corner, Hermoso's header was ferried back, Hummels stretched his leg to intercept a low-level mistake, blocked the ball into his own door, Atletico Madrid laughed at the own gift, and rewrote the aggregate score to 3-3!
In the 58th minute, Atletico Madrid also colored, Koke made a wonderful pass from the middle, Angel Correa shot one-handedly, and again deflected off the post, and Dort escaped. Six minutes later, Angel Correa made up for it, seized on Hummels' mistake and finally sent the ball into the net with two consecutive shots, and Atletico equalized 2-2 and won 4-3 on aggregate!
However, Atletico Madrid was only happy for a while, in the 70th minute, Brandt made a direct pass from the left, Sabitzer inserted a bottom cross in front, Phil Krueger looked back at the moon and headed an unsolvable header, Dort led 3-2, and the overall score came to 4-4!
In the 74th minute, Hummels instigated an offensive with a long pass, Phil Kruger inserted a shot and was blocked, Sabitzer shot from the front of the penalty area, the ball went straight to the dead corner, and Dort went to the next city, 4-2!
won Atletico Madrid 4-2, and Dort eliminated the Sheets Army with an aggregate score of 5-4, and entered the Champions League semi-finals after 9 years. And Atletico Madrid fell to the ground with a bang, and it was basically determined that the big four were empty.