On a Wednesday night that was overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic that is gripping the news cycle and the world of sports, one of the biggest upsets in recent Champions League history took place.
Liverpool, who faced a 1-0 deficit in their Round of 16 matchup with Atletico Madrid, lost 2-3 to the Spanish side in extra time in the second leg of the draw, eliminating last year’s champion from the competition.
Diego Simeone’s underdogs will advance to the quarter-finals of the competition for the first time since the 2016-17 season after a night that will surely go down in the history of the club.
Liverpool attacked, attacked, and attacked all night to try to make up a 1-0 deficit that they faced after the first leg of the tie. Things looked good after Georgino Wijnaldum put the Reds up 1-0 just before the break, with the team looking plenty threatening and capable of scoring again.
However, Atletico held steady during the second half, which was enough to force added extra time.
Anfield went crazy after only four minutes of extra time as Roberto Firmino scored off of a rebound from goalie Jan Oblak to put Liverpool up 2-0, a result that would have seen them advance.
That’s when everything was turned upside down.
Atletico responded only two minutes later to trim the deficit to 2-1 after Liverpool backup goalie Adrian mistakenly passed a ball to the Colchoneros in his team’s own side of the field, and Marcos Llorente beat him.
Llorente scored again ten minutes later to deflate the Anfield crowd and tie the game, and Alvaro Morata added another goal to give his team a 3-2 win and a date in the quarter-finals.
