Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid and Benfica became the latest teams to qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League while Manchester United squandered a chance to join them today.
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Ronaldo opened the scoring with an 18th-minute header off a flick from Gareth Bale, before assisting first Luka Modric and then Dani Carvajal for goals in the space of three second-half minutes.
The match at the Vicente Calderon Stadium in Madrid saw Antoine Griezmann score twice for Atletico – in 13th and 65th minutes.
Replays showed that Griezmann appeared to be offside when he scored the second goal.
The 24-year-old Griezmann has truly developed into one of the best pure strikers in the world and this is only another example of what he can do as a goal-scorer.
Atletico – two points behind group leaders Benfica heading into matchday five – face a Galatasaray outfit led by caretaker coach Claudio Taffarel.
Just as in the first meeting between the sides in a 2-0 Atletico win back in September, Griezmann was the difference as the Frenchman struck either side of half-time to take Diego Simeone’s men into the last 16 for the third consecutive season.
They have conceded a mere six goals in their 12 La Liga games, the fewest in Spain’s top flight, and only two in four Champions League outings, with defensive stalwarts like Diego Godin, Juanfran and Filipe Luis typically efficient.
While I appreciate that Atletico are a strong team and tough to beat I think they are being over valued here, Galatasaray were very good in Portugal against Benfica and I think that if they repeat that performance here they could get something from the game and maybe even get a win here.
Atletico should have gone on to win by a much greater margin as they controlled the game throughout.
The eight group winners get to avoid each other in the draw for the round of 16. “If you want to achieve something in the Champions League, you need to increase your tempo”.
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“Before any game we always look to win”.
