Nigeria’s Super Eagles winger, Ademola Lookman, has expressed delight with Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 victory against Barcelona in the first-leg quarter-final of the Champions League.
Julian Alvarez whipped home the free kick, and Alexander Sorloth doubled their advantage with 20 minutes remaining to give Atletico a strong chance of reaching the semifinals.
Diego Simeone’s side, who have never won the competition, reached the 2014 and 2016 finals but were beaten by rivals Real Madrid on both occasions.
Reacting after the game, the former Everton star, in a chat with TNT Sports, lauded the team’s performance against Barca at Camp Nou.
“It was a good result, the performance of the team, especially not to concede here. It shows the work everyone’s been doing and the togetherness.
“If you say so. You know, especially scoring after they had a man sent off; that was key as well. A brilliant free kick from Julián (Alvarez), and also the timing of Alex’s (Alexander Sørloth) goal in the second half was also good.
“They are a top team, of course, in situations they put you in. Difficult moments, but we dug in together. It’s going to be a massive challenge, a massive game. We know that. Calm heads, for sure. We’ll take each game as it comes.
“It has been nice; it has been great, actually. Long may it continue.”
Atletico knocked Barca out of the Copa del Rey in the semifinals in March, and this was the second of three meetings between the sides in a space of two weeks.
Meanwhile, Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick has vowed that the Catalans will not give up, despite losing their Champions League quarterfinal first leg to Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona was left very frustrated to lose 2-0 to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, which has left their Champions League dreams in tatters.
They must now go to the Riyadh Air Metropolitano next week and win by at least two goals in order to progress, which will be extremely difficult in the circumstances.
As per Marca (via Football Espana), head coach Hansi Flick chose to be upbeat despite the disappointing result for his side.
“They scored two goals and had a lot of quality. The first goal: we have to defend better; we received the red card and then the goal. We lost, but we had very good chances. We’re not going to give up. I think we had a lot of options.”
Flick had his say on Pau Cubarsi’s red card, as he also highlighted a play that took place nine minutes into the second card. Marc Pubill handled the ball after a goal kick, but VAR chose against getting involved, which he could not believe.
“I don’t know about Cubarsí’s sending off; it could be red or it couldn’t be. I’m not sure if he touches him enough. The ball was behind them. But the situation in which they touch the ball with their hand in the area and I don’t understand why VAR doesn’t come in.
“It’s normal to make mistakes, but this type of situation, why do we have VAR? It should be a penalty and a second yellow, a red.
“The VAR has been quite favored towards Atletico… he was a German (referee). Thank you, Germany. I don’t know what happens in a situation in which a goalkeeper starts to play and the defender stops it with his hand; for me, it’s a second yellow and also a penalty. Let’s see if they can explain it to us.
“I think we gave everything and we weren’t lucky, but we have to look ahead to the next game against Atletico. But we’re positive; we’ll fight.”
Packaged by Lanre Olabisi
