Atletico Madrid defeat Borussia Dortmund 2-1; De Paul and Lino among the goals for Rojiblancos

Atletico Madrid overcame Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie on Wednesday at the Wanda Metropolitano. Rodrigo De Paul and Samuel Lino scored apiece for the Rojiblancos before Sebastian Haller netted one late on for Der BVB to reduce the deficit.

Meeting for only the second time in the competition, Atletico and Dortmund both came into the fixture on the back of a good run of form. But as is often the case at the Metropolitano, Atletico started brightly and went in front after only four minutes. Rodrigo De Paul latched onto a poor square pass by Ian Maatsen and made a lovely outside-of-the-boot finish beyond Dortmund custodian Gregor Kobel to make it 1-0 for the hosts.

The early blow appeared to have taken a toll on Dortmund, who struggled to find a breakthrough. Der BVB were stuck in their own half and unable to find a way past Atletico’s stoic backline. Then in the 32nd minute, things went from bad to worse for the visitors, as Atletico doubled their advantage.

A moment of miscommunication between Mats Hummels and Nicolas Schlotterbeck allowed Alvaro Morata to come into possession, and the Spaniard took a step before laying it off for Antoine Griezmann, who then lobbed it over Julian Ryerson for Lino. The midfielder calmly slotted it past Kobel, being completely unmarked while making the shot.

Trailing by two goals now, Dortmund needed a big performance in the second half to come back into the tie. Now while they did put on a much-improved show after the break, showing more aggression and urgency, clear-cut chances were still few and far between, much to their chagrin. Nonetheless, Edin Terzić’s side pulled one back late on when Haller scored to make it 2-1.

It might have been too little, too late, but the goal certainly offers Dortmund a lifeline into the tie. All’s not lost for them yet. Meanwhile, Atletico will have a daunting objective of protecting their narrow lead at the Signal Iduna Park, a place where they were crushed 4-0 on their last visit in 2018.

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