Atletico Madrid 1-1 Bayern Munich
When Atletico Madrid splashed a club record £113-million to secure the signature of young Portuguese talent Joao Felix nearly 18 months ago, it was a sign that Los Rojiblancos were finally prepared to fight back in the transfer market.
Season after season they had somehow maintained momentum at the top end of both the domestic and European scene, despite being forced to sell their best players for many consecutive summers.
Yet that could not be sustained and the side who were Champions League finalists in 2014 and 2016 needed to reinvest some of that on a potential star of the future rather than constantly losing their own.
Well, this goal to hold the reigning European champions may not pay that fee off but it may well go some way to earning Diego Simeone’s men a place in the lucrative knockout stages of Europe’s premier competition.
Highlights of the game
The key moment for the home side arrived after 26 minutes. That’s when Marco Llorente got to the touchline and managed to keep the ball in play before crossing for Felix to stab home at the near post.
After receiving a pummeling at the hands of the Bavarians in Germany less than two months ago, could Atletico now go onto create some Champions League highlights of their own?
Could they also gain a modicum of revenge against opponents who had already won the group and were through to the next round?
Certainly, it was a great opportunity as Bayern rested many key men.
Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, midfielder Leon Goretzka, and striker Robert Lewandowski did not even travel to Spain, while the likes of Serge Gnabry and Thomas Muller started on the bench before coming on for the last 30 minutes.
For long spells it seemed Atletico would make it three home wins on the spin against the German giants as they had beaten Bayern twice at home in their previous two Champions League encounters with both victories coming by a 1-0 scoreline in 2016.
Yet the SBOTOP Champions League betting odds would not stretch to a repeat as five minutes from time, Muller was tripped by Felipe and clinically beat Jan Oblak from the spot.
The point ensures Atletico remain in control of their own destiny and are going to have to earn their qualification on their trip to Red Bull Salzburg next week after the Austrians leapfrogged Lokomotiv Moscow into third place.
Who knows, perhaps they would have added a second goal had they not been missing both Diego Costa and Luis Suarez.
However, it was hard to begrudge the undermanned Bayern a point against a much more experienced Atletico team.
Indeed, only one of the 11 men on the pitch in the first half started the Champions League final against PSG last season, signifying that their quality runs deep.
Atletico are heading in the right direction but Bayern remain a class apart.
Key statistics
This was Muller’s 47th goal in the Champions League, putting him one ahead of Filippo Inzaghi on the all-time list. He’s now one behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andriy Shevchenko, and three off Thierry Henry.
Felix has scored seven goals in his last seven starts for Atletico in all competitions, as many as he netted in his previous 29 starts for the club.
Simeone has lost just two of his seven Champions League games against reigning champions (W3, D2) and none of his five games at home against them.
This was the eighth meeting between Atletico and Bayern in the European Cup/Champions League and the Spanish side have won just two of them.
After losing five consecutive away games against Spanish opponents in the Champions League from 2013-2017, Bayern have avoided defeat in each of their last three games – 2-1 vs Sevilla, 2-2 vs Real Madrid (both in 2017/18), and this one.
This was David Alaba’s 400th appearance for Bayern.
Among the Bayern lineup was left-back Lucas Hernandez who played more than 100 games with Atletico – winning a UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup along the way – before moving to Germany last summer.
What’s next?
Atletico are home again at the weekend as Real Valladolid are the visitors to the Wanda Metropolitano.
They then travel to Salzburg next Wednesday knowing they need a point to be assured of a place in the last 16.
Bayern Munich have a big one in the Bundesliga on Saturday as RB Leipzig, who were semifinalists in this competition last season, travel to the Allianz Arena.
They complete their Group A fixtures – a group they had already won before tonight – by hosting Lokomotiv Moscow next Wednesday.
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