Atletico Madrid on Wednesday went out from the Champions League following an extraordinary sequence around a penalty awarded by video review (VAR) after the final whistle of its 2-2 draw with Bayer Leverkusen at the Metropolitano Stadium.
The host would have won Leverkusen, if they had taken advantage of the penalty in the 90+9 minute. However, midfielder Yannick Carrasco hit goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, while Saul Niguez headed the bar.
Atletico manager Diego Simeone has admitted that it is his hardest moment after his side exited the Champions League group stage at home.
“It’s the hardest moment but I’m going to continue insisting on this club to get something we need, such as the Champions League,” Simeone said.
“It summarises a little what our play was until today in this competition. Everything has been a significant struggle, in many of the games where we did not gain points, we could have scored a few more goals if we were more effective.”
“The final images, with the missed penalty, the shot against the crossbar and the shot against Carrasco, sum it up.” Someone added.
The result has left Atletico in third place with five points, five points behind Club Brugge and four points behind FC Porto before the last leg. The remaining match with FC Porto is therefore not meaningful to Atletico.
“It is clear that we are not looking for excuses, we did not do [many] things.” Simeone told Marca.
“In this match there was a second half of the highest level, good play, scoring situations, counterattacks well stopped by [Jan] Oblak, the team gave everything at all times. It annoys you not being able to go to Porto with the possibility of continuing.” he added.
Simeone and his squad is going head to head with Cadiz FC starting on 29 Oct 2022 at Estadio Ramon de Carranza stadium.
