A crossbar cannot be more than five inches wide but that can be enough to change everything. Sometimes the margins are measurable and this was one of those times, even if the difference between these two teams had appeared immense at times. Two-nil down and overrun after just half an hour here, the entire quarter-final seemingly slipping away from them almost as soon as it had begun, Borussia Dortmund rebelled and a late Sébastien Haller goal gave them hope for the second leg but their comeback was left incomplete after they hit the bar twice in the final three minutes.
First it was Jamie Bynoe-Gittens’ thumping effort on 87 minutes, then Julian Brandt’s header with the last touch of the game. And so these two sides must reconvene to fight it out in Germany next Tuesday, a place in the semi-final within reach of both of them. Ultimately Rodrigo De Paul and Samuel Lino’s first-half goals were enough to give Atlético Madrid the advantage, although their lead is narrower than had seemed likely for much of the night and, while there was relief at the death, there will be frustration at allowing their opponents a lifeline at all.
For Edin Terzic’s team, meanwhile, there was something to hold on to: a second-half reaction and a respectable scoreline to take back to Westphalia. That had not always seemed likely, the damage done early on looking like it might be definitive at a time when Dortmund were unable to live with Atlético – or their own tendency to self-destruct.
They were certainly complicit in their demise. The goalkeeper Gregor Kobel put Ian Maatsen under pressure and he gave the ball away for De Paul to open the scoring on just four minutes, and then a dreadful, almost comic mess from a throw-in saw them concede the second.
Not that it was all their own fault. Just after the first goal, there was an outrageous backheeled volley from Axel Witsel which drew a superb save from Kobel and, led by Antoine Griezmann, Atlético were hugely impressive. On the left, Lino was enjoying going at Dortmund. Just inside him, Griezmann was running everything. For a long time, it was all the Germans could do to hang on and hope that the storm would pass. They appeared terrified, moments of startlingly public weakness all too many.
One, involving Marcel Sabitzer and Maatsen, gave Griezmann a shot that was blocked, leading to a corner which ran through everyone as if they dare not touch the ball, and these were not isolated moments.
Stuck deep, seeking shelter, survival was the height of their ambition at this stage. When some neat footwork from Jadon Sancho forced a corner on half an hour, it was Dortmund’s first – it was also the first time they had advanced at all. From the corner, Felix Nmecha leapt to head just over but exactly 60 seconds passed from that to Atlético doubling the lead.
Again, Dortmund did it to themselves, Mats Hummels and Nico Schlotterbeck getting in each other’s way and leaving the ball in the worst possible place: at the feet of Griezmann. The Frenchman scooped a lovely pass to Lino to score. That was 8-1 on shots, 2-0 in goals. And, it seemed, game over.
Yet Dortmund did react this time. Jan Oblak made a sharp save from Maatsen’s shot after Karim Adeyemi had run at them and when the hosts were exposed for the first time, Sancho smashed wide just before half-time. Here at last was a hint there could be a game on after all. With Brandt introduced at the start of the second period, it seemed there really might be, the shot count evening out. This was different now. Dortmund did not inflict as much fear nor return the dominance they had suffered but there was a least a defiance.
Atlético’s intentions were different too, forced back and focused more on defending – which they did better than Dortmund had. This looked more like the Atlético of old. Brandt curled a free kick wide from 25 yards which, while they pushed, tended to be as near to goal as Atlético would let them.
At the other end, meanwhile, there were moments when the home side got much closer and could have ended it: first, a Marcos Llorente ball ran right across the six-yard box and then Lino couldn’t nudge a superb Griezmann free-kick over the line with Kobel recovering to make an exceptional save. Next Llorente again reached the byline, offered the chance to attack by yet more nervousness at the back, and stood up the cross for Lino to head wide.
That might have been it, but less than a minute later, the entire tie turned, reward for the reaction. Two incisive passes did it, the second from Brandt finding Haller, via Nahuel Molina’s leaping and flawed attempt to clear.
Turning inside the area, the Ivorian struck beyond Oblak to score. Dortmund were alive; they were very nearly level soon after when Bynoe-Gittens’ shot thundered off the bar and, with Diego Simeone’s side hanging on now, so too did Brandt’s header with the very last touch.
