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.
