SUPER Eagles of Nigeria forward Ademola Lookman was in Atletico Madrid’s starting line-up tonight as they took a huge step towards advancing to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals with an impressive 2-0 win at 10-man Barcelona.
The visitors had not won at the Nou Camp since 2006 before tonight but goals in either half by Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth secured the victory in the first-leg of their quarter-final tie.
Barcelona had been the better side for much of the game but a foul on Giuliano Simeone by Pau Cubarsi just before half-time proved pivotal.
The defender was initially shown a yellow card by referee Istvan Kovacs after sending Simeone flying as he broke through one-on-one, but that was changed to a red card when Kovacs was asked by the video assistant referee (VAR) to review the incident on the pitchside monitor.
Alvarez then compounded Barcelona’s misery by superbly sending the free-kick beyond the goalkeeper’s reach and into the back of the net.
To Barcelona’s credit, they responded well to going a man down and dominated the second half, with Marcus Rashford going closest to equalising when he hit the crossbar from a free-kick.
But instead, they were dealt a further blow when Atletico grabbed a second, Alexander Sorloth sweeping home from Matteo Ruggeri’s low cross.
The defeat leaves Barcelona with it all to do when they travel to Madrid in the second leg next Tuesday.
In France, Liverpool’s Champions League hopes were left hanging in the balance after a demoralising 2-0 defeat by reigning European champions Paris St-Germain – the Reds’ 16th loss of the season.
Desire Doue’s deflected strike looped over the head of Giorgi Mamardashvili to give the Ligue 1 leaders the lead, before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia doubled their advantage with a moment of brilliance.
It could have been worse for Liverpool when Warren Zaire-Emery went down after a challenge by Ibrahima Konate – but the penalty decision was overturned after the official watched the incident again on the pitchside monitor.
Konate was then fortunate not to be penalised for shoving Nuno Mendes in the area in stoppage time.
The result means Liverpool, who failed to register an attempt on target, have a mountain to climb to stay in the competition in the quarter-final second leg at Anfield next Tuesday.
With agency reports
