Atletico Madrid advanced to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time since the 2016/2017 season, following a thrilling 3-2 aggregate victory over Barcelona. Diego Simeone's side had taken a 2-0 lead into the second leg, but Barcelona staged a spectacular comeback, with goals from Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres within 25 minutes.
However, Atletico regained their composure and restored their aggregate advantage through Ademola Lookman's strike. The match took a decisive turn when Eric Garcia was sent off for bringing down Alexander Sorloth, extinguishing Barcelona's hopes of a comeback.
Atletico will now face the winner of the tie between Arsenal and Sporting in the semi-finals, with the first leg scheduled for April 28 or 29 and the second leg on May 5 or 6. Yamal had earlier become the youngest player to record 20 goal involvements in Champions League history at 18 years and 275 days old.
Despite the introduction of Marcus Rashford and Robert Lewandowski, Barcelona's attack lacked bite in the second half. Atletico's victory was a testament to their game management and ability to capitalize on counter-attacks. The team's performance was praised by Kris Boyd, who noted that Atletico were in control of the game and could hit Barcelona on the counter-attack at will. Atletico Madrid's Koke expressed his team's thrill at eliminating a top-notch team like Barcelona, while Barcelona's Frenkie De Jong felt that luck was not on their side and vowed to continue competing for everything with their young and talented team.