Atlético advances on aggregate

Atlético Madrid reached the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday, surviving a 2-1 home loss to Barcelona and going through 3-2 on aggregate. (uefa.com) Barcelona erased Atlético’s first-leg lead inside 24 minutes at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, with Lamine Yamal scoring in the fourth minute and Ferran Torres making it 2-0 on the night in the 24th. (uefa.com) Ademola Lookman put Atlético back in front in the tie in the 31st minute, finishing Marcos Llorente’s low cross for the goal that decided the quarter-final. (uefa.com) Atlético then closed out the match with 10 men after Eric García was sent off in the 79th minute for fouling Alexander Sørloth, and Ronald Araújo missed Barcelona’s late chance in stoppage time. (uefa.com) The result sent Diego Simeone’s team to its first Champions League semi-final since 2017. Barcelona had reached the last four in 2025 and went into the second leg trying to return there again. (espn.com) The shape of the tie was set a week earlier, when Atlético won the first leg 2-0 in Barcelona on April 8. That left Barcelona needing at least two goals on April 14 just to draw level on aggregate. (uefa.com) Atlético’s semi-final opponent will be Arsenal or Sporting Clube de Portugal. Arsenal won the first leg 1-0 in Lisbon, and the return leg is scheduled for Wednesday, April 15. (uefa.com) For Atlético, the thread of the night was the same from the first leg to the last minutes of the second: absorb Barcelona’s pressure, take one chance, and make the aggregate score hold. (uefa.com)