European football expert Andy Brassell kindly called it “Atletico-ness” on Stan Sport.
Champions League host Max Rushden said the impolite way to describe it was “S—housery.”
Whatever the wording, another healthy dollop of gamesmanship worked yet again for Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, who beat Porto 3-1 in a wild Group B finale this morning to progress to the round of 16.
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Three red cards, brawls, countless chances and a flurry of late goals… it’s hard to know where to start.
“Utter mayhem, complete madness, totally ridiculous,” Rushden said.
The high stakes match turned ugly in the second half, with Porto having two players red carded after Atletico had Yannick Carrasco sent off for swinging his arm around an opponent’s neck.
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But perhaps the most controversial of several flashpoints was Atletico’s Matheus Cunha theatrically making the most of light contact from Porto’s fellow Brazilian Wendell, grabbing his head and falling to the Estadio do Dragao turf.
“It’s hard because does he strike out?” former Socceroos captain Craig Foster asked on Stan Sport.
“Well yes he does, does he hit him in the face, no. Does the player dive massively and go to his face? Yes he does. But it’s unfortunate for Wendell because in that moment you just can’t do anything, right. They’re trying to provoke you and unfortunately he is provoked.”
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Atletico was outplayed for much of the game but was opportunistic in front of goal, with Antoine Griezmann scoring the 56th minute opener at a corner and Angel Correa and Rodrigo De Paul adding breakaway goals after the 90th minute.
It sparked wild celebrations on the touchline by Simeone, Atletico’s famously passionate coach, and striker Luis Suarez, who was forced off injured after 13 minutes.
Group winner Liverpool had a 2-1 victory at AC Milan, allowing Atletico to go from last to second at Porto.
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“The vast majority of teams around the world are very much put off by that type of stuff,” former Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich said of the Atletico-Porto shenanigans.
“There are some teams that thrive on it, obviously Atleti did.
“There are some teams in the past that thrive on that type of stuff but in general it throws everyone and it can result in people losing their heads, getting sent off and just putting them off their game for long enough for that team to remain on top.”
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Liverpool ended with a perfect 18 points from six wins, with Atletico finishing with seven and Porto five, one more than Milan.
Atletico has now reached the knockout stage eight times in the last nine seasons, with its only setback in 2017-18.
“This match and this group stage campaign sums up just what Atleti is all about. We are a true group and we need everyone to do their bit to get to where we want to. We never stop believing,” Griezmann said.
Here’s a wrap of some of the other Champions League action this morning…
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– STROLL FOR PSG –
Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe had some fun in Paris Saint-Germain’s group closer.
It was anything but fun for Manchester City.
City manager Pep Guardiola selected a strong lineup for the 2-1 loss at Leipzig despite his team being guaranteed as the Group A winner and in the middle of a busy domestic schedule.
City was sloppy at the back in conceding goals to Dominik Szoboszlai and Andre Silva before having right back Kyle Walker sent off for a rash tackle from behind on Silva, meaning the team will be missing a key defender for the first leg of the last 16.
Riyad Mahrez scored City’s goal in a match played without fans because of coronavirus restrictions.
Leipzig finished third to stay in European competition.
It was a stroll for second-place PSG in a 4-1 win over Club Brugge, with Mbappe scoring twice inside the first seven minutes and – at 22 years and 352 days – becoming the youngest player to reach 30 goals in the competition.
Messi added his own double, the first a curler from outside the area and the second a penalty, and has now scored against a record-extending 38 different teams in the Champions League.
– HISTORIC HALLER –
Sebastien Haller’s first season in the Champions League has been a historic one.
By converting an eighth minute penalty for Ajax in its 4-2 win over Sporting, the Ivory Coast striker became only the second player – after Cristiano Ronaldo in 2017-18 – to score in all six matches of a single group stage.
He finished with 10 goals in total.
It’s quite the rise to prominence for Haller, who was sold to Ajax by West Ham in January 2020 because he was struggling to get in the English team.
Then, after joining Ajax, the Dutch club accidentally omitted Haller’s name when submitting its squad for the Europa League so he couldn’t be registered for the competition.
Ajax was already sure of winning Group C and finished on a maximum 18 points.
Sporting had already secured second place.
Indeed, with Borussia Dortmund certain of third place before its 5-0 thrashing of 10 man Besiktas, the last round of matches in the group didn’t affect the standings.
– REAL IN FIRST –
In a match that determined which team finished top of Group D, Real Madrid beat Inter Milan 2-0 despite being without injured star striker Karim Benzema.
Toni Kroos and Marco Asensio, with a brilliant curler that flew in off the far post, scored the goals for the 13 time European champions.
Inter, which was already sure of a top two finish, had Italy midfielder Nicolo Barella sent off for lashing out at Eder Militao.
In the other group game, Boban Nikolov scored a last-gasp equaliser for Sheriff to draw at last placed Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1.
