Nigeria’s Ademola Lookman scored the crucial goal that sent Atletico Madrid into the UEFA Champions League semi-final despite a 2-1 loss to ten man Barcelona at their Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium on Tuesday night. The Super Eagles winger joined the club in January, has become the toast of fans, and etched his name into the club’s annals of history with another excellent performance he crowned with the all-important goal that sends Diego Simeone’s side back into the semi-final of the UCL for the first time in nine years. Barcelona were the better side in the first leg despite losing by two goals, and the Catalans were on all-out attack from the first whistle in the second leg.
Their decision paid off with Lamine Yamal pouncing on a defensive error to slot home the opener, while Ferran Torres was the beneficiary of another sloppy play. The Spanish international collected Dani Olmo’s pass before finding the far corner for a 2-0 lead that erased Atletico’s tw5o-goal advantage.
Simeone’s side regrouped and got the all-important goal through Lookman, the former Atalanta winger slotted Marcus Llorente’s cross ito the net with a first half finish.
Both teams went at each other for more goals, and Barcelona had a goal ruled out for offside before de ja vu-style disaster struck again for Hansi Flick’s side with another red card just like the first half. Eric Garcia was the culprit this time, hauling down Alexander Sorloth as the last defender to get his marching orders following VAR review.
Howevr Barcelona remained relentless in attack with Robert Lewandowski going close with a header, and Ronald Araujo skiing another header at the back post in the final minutes as Barcelona crash out at the UCL stage at the hands of Atletico for the third consecutive time.