Los Blancos proved their European immortality once again by beating their cross-city rivals to secure a quarter-final spot
Of course Real Madrid's Champions League last-16 tie with Atletico Madrid would all come down to a contentious VAR decision! Julian Alvarez did touch the ball twice when scoring Atleti's second penalty, but was a cruel way for 210 minutes of cagey, often unwatchable football to end.
In the second leg on Wednesday, Atletico edged it. The scoreline – a 1-0 win to level the tie at 2-2 – suggests as much. But over two full fixtures, extra-time, and a controversial penalty shootout, of course Real won; it's just what they do. And it's really quite a shame that it all had to end like this – with angry press conferences from Diego Simeone, trolling on social media, and righteous indigation from Madrid fans on X.
After 27 seconds, in fact, this looked poised to be something of a classic. Atleti scored right from the kick-off, a wonderfully worked goal that began with a clever Antoine Griezmann pass and ended with a Conor Gallagher jab – with some chaotic Madrid defending in between. From there, Atleti squeezed all of the spaces, leaving Madrid no room to play. Vinicius Jr jinked, pushed and cut, only to find a swarm of red and white shirts wherever he looked. Atleti flew forward on the break, but without a clear goal-scorer lacked cutting edge.
Vinicius did have big chance to flip the narrative after Kylian Mbappe burst through on goal, cut to his left, and was dragged down by Clement Lenglet in the box. Vinicius took the penalty, but smashed it high into the Madrid night – which summed up his miserable evening.
Atleti really should have capitalised, but Madrid defended well, keeping the hosts mostly away from their box, and forced Alvarez – who was excellent for 120 minutes before his shootout nightmare – into the sort of shooting angles he never wanted to be in.
Once it went to penalties, there never seemed to be all that much doubt. Alvarez's controversial double-hit, combined with a Marcos Llorente effort that smacked against the crossbar, negated the potential damange of a limp effort from Lucas Vazquez. Antonio Rudiger – as he did against Manchester City last season – was left to add the finishing touch.
And so Madrid roll on, the unkillable giants of Europe, who use fortune and sheer belief to drag themselves deep into the Champions League.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Metropolitano…
Getty Images SportWINNER: Carlo Ancelotti
Well, some credit has to go to the manager, right? There is constant debate as to how much of a difference Carlo Ancelotti actually makes to this Madrid team. It is well chronicled, at this point, that he doesn't run training sessions (that's his son's job, nor is he necessarily a master tactician who reinvents the wheel every year. Instead, he is a sort of manager-by-aura, a man who instils confidence into an incredibly talented group of players and gets the best out of them despite the contrasting intentions and ego clashes that really tear this locker room apart.
And so it proved again. Ancelotti did make some correct calls on Wednesday. Substitutingg Luka Modric (tired) and Aurelien Tchouameni (ineffective) just after the hour mark gave Madrid an injection of energy into the midfield. Replacing Vinicius before the penalty shootout made sense, even if it seemed risky at the time. And more broadly, he ensured his team did not capitulate in a hostile environment.
There has been some scattered talk of late that Ancelotti might lose his job if Madrid end the season without silverware, but such claims are ridiculous. Madrid have been changed by €150 million worth of ego in Mbappe and decimated by injuries in key positions. Many a manager would see this season crumble, and, at times, Ancelotti has Los Blancos holding on by a thread. But who cares? A treble is still very much on at the Bernabeu.
AdvertisementGetty ImagesLOSER: Julian Alvarez
Is it possible to feel anything other than sorrow for Alvarez? The replays are going to be shown over, and over, and over in the coming weeks. But VAR made the right call: the Argentine touched the ball twice on his otherwise wonderfully converted penalty. There was nothing intentional about it – he slipped on the turf – but it is a moment that will now live in infamy.
It was a night of 'almosts' for Alvarez. He did all of the right things, played out 99.9 percent of his evening to perfection, but couldn't quite come up with a killer blow. He ran the channels, pressed at the right times and forced Thibaut Courtois into three excellent saves. It really has become clear, in recent months, that he was wasted as a back-up to Erling Haaland at Man City.
However, it is unfortunate that his debut season in Spain will now almost certainly be remembered for a stroke of awful luck.
AFPLOSER: Vinicius Jr
"I will come back 10x stronger if I have to." Those were the words of Vinicius after narrowly missing out on the Ballon d'Or to Rodri in 2024. The Brazilian claimed, in effect, that him being overlooked would only spur him on.
Since that tweet, though, he has produced a rather mixed bag. There have been some wonderful goals and exciting moments, but consistency has been elusive. Of course, there is a big fat Mbappe-shaped reason why this has all happened, but more broadly, Vinicius has lacked cutting edge at times.
These, though, are supposed to be the games when that all gets forgotten. On Champions League nights, Ballon d'Or-mode Vini tends to show up.
Only against Atleti, he really didn't. Diego Simeone has shown, repeatedly, that he knows how to get under Vinicius' skin. The solution? Swarm him, ensure that he has no room to breathe, foul him if you have to, and laugh at him when he tries to complain.
Such treatment seemed into Vinicius' head a bit, so much so that when his moment arrived – a penalty in the second half that may well have killed off the tie – he fell short. Vini doesn't have to be the hero every time, but if this is the kind of night when star men show up, and Ballons d'Or are handed out, then Wednesday was nothing short of a failure.
gettyWINNER: Kylian Mbappe
Well, Kylian, you wanted your Champions League trophy; now you're one step closer to grabbing it.
Mbappe left Paris Saint-Germain because he wanted to play for Real Madrid ever since he was a child. Everything about his career has been geared towards him becoming a Galactico. Individual accolades and big-stage moments are what seem to matter to him most.
What an embarrassment it would have been, then, had Mbappe exited stage right from the Champions League just 24 hours after his former club had finally announced themselves as genuine contenders for a continental crown. Talk of an 'Mbappe curse' would have dominated Spanish newspapers, with PSG seemingly free of a goal-scoring marvel who was secretly holding them back the whole time while Madrid had inherited a wonderful footballer who looked destined to never quite make it to the top of the mountain.
Fortunately for the France captain, that didn't come to pass, and he remains on the path towards both a first European Cup, while Mohamed Salah's departure from the Champions League means the Ballon d'Or is back in play too. This could still turn into a dream debut campaign for the boyhood Blanco.