“Ad augusta per angusta” – through difficulty to honour – the banner that stretched across the south stand of the Metropolitano had said, and it was right. Oh, how, it was right; more even than they had imagined. They would struggle and they would suffer, a wild night lived on the edge, one in which even the manager got injured, but in the end there was glory for Atlético Madrid.
A game that could have gone any way, won or lost several times over, eventually went to the spot. And there, at 23.43pm local time, Lautaro Martínez of all people sent the ninth penalty high into the north end.
