RB Leipzig will play in their first ever Champions League semi-final as the Germans stunned Atletico Madrid on Thursday night.
Despite losing star striker Timo Werner to Chelsea earlier this summer, with the forward deciding not to stick with Leipzig for the remainder of their European campaign, the Bundesliga outfit progressed through their quarter-final clash vs Atleti with a 2-1 win.
Tyler Adams, the United States midfielder, became Leipzig’s newest hero as his deflected strike two minutes from the end of regulation time guaranteed the win, after Joao Felix’s penalty had earlier cancelled out Dani Olmo’s opener.
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Atletico were without Angel Correa and Sime Vrsaljko after they returned positive coronavirus tests last week but Leipzig were regarded as the underdogs, with top scorer Werner making his move to Stamford Bridge at the end of the Bundesliga season.
It was Leipzig who made a strong start to the match and had a good chance to take an early lead.
Atletico, uncharacteristically, failed to deal with a corner and the ball dropped to Marcel Halstenberg inside the penalty area but the big defender was unable to keep his shot down.
It may have acted as a wake-up call for the Spanish club, who then threatened three times in quick succession.
A looping header from Savic momentarily caused Peter Gulacsi problems but the Leipzig goalkeeper was able to sort out his feet and make an athletic catch, falling to the ground on the goal-line.
Good work down the left saw Yannick Carrasco advance into the penalty area before attempting to beat Gulacsi at his near post. However, the Hungarian made a fine save, beating away the ball with two hands.
From the resulting corner, Jose Gimenez saw his free header strike a defender before Saul felt he was tripped by the goalkeeper when retrieving the ball but the incident was checked by VAR and no penalty was awarded.
The game settled down thereafter, with the last real chance of a largely attritional first half coming in stoppage time when Dayot Upamecano’s downward header from a corner was straight at Jan Oblak.
The games’s first moment of brilliance came five minutes into the second half and it saw Leipzig take the lead.
The German side switched play from left to right and when the cross came in from Marcel Sabitzer, Olmo was on hand – unmarked – in the middle and headed the ball across goal, past Oblak and into the far bottom corner of the net.
Atletico boss Diego Simeone did not take long to respond and brought on Felix. After Lodi received a yellow card for diving, attempting to win a penalty after going to ground under a challenge from Upamecano, Atletico were given a spot kick and Felix stepped up to take it.
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The young forward, formerly of Benfica, confidently stroked it home, bringing his side level back in his home city. It was he that won the 70th-minute penalty, surging forward and drawing the tackle from Lukas Klostermann after feigning to shoot.
Atletico’s tails were up and Leipzig had to withstand some late pressure, with Carrasco twice going close and bringing a save from Gulacsi on one occasion.
However, it was Leipzig who would win the tie. A great throughball from Sabitzer to pick out Angelino on the left saw the marauding left-back square the ball to Adams on the edge of the box and his shot deflected in off Savic.
A combination of Upamecano and Gulacsi denied Alvaro Morata deep into added time as Leipzig held on for a historic victory to seal a semi-final spot against Paris Saint-Germain.
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