Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez produced a goal of a lifetime, delicate yet devastating, swivelling past Bayern Munich defenders in ghost-like fashion before curling a left footer past Manuel Neuer to send the Vicente Calderón Stadium into a glorious uproar. “It is always unpleasant to have not scored an away goal, but we still have 90 minutes”, said Guardiola.
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It took a goal of sheer brilliance from Saul Niguez to beat Bayern Munich and give Atletico Madrid the advantage after the first-leg of a tight Champions League semi-final.
“In the second half we were better than the first, in which we did not go well”.
“But we have all the options to turn this game around at home”. “We have got what we wanted, which was to get the scoreline in our favor ahead of the second leg”.
Such has been his impact under Simeone that Saul, on target as Bayern were beaten 1-0 in their Champions League semi-final first leg, has been linked with a move away, with Manchester United said to extremely interested in the youngster.
Bayern coach Pep Guardiola brought on Frank Ribery and Thomas Muller to add punch in attack and saw how Oblak parried from Alex Vidal before Fernando Torres hit the post in a typical Atletico break. As the match progressed, we tried to play football again which worked out better for us.
“They are in the same position as us – and to win the league you have to win games”.
“It was definitely the most important goal of my career and probably the most handsome one as well”, Niguez said. “We put in a huge effort”, said Simeone, whose Atletico side have frequently been a scourge of more-fancied opponents with their disciplined rearguard frustrating Barcelona in the last round.
However, just as he has often done in the past, the Spaniard played down the notion, reiterating how proud he is of the German giants’ UCL achievements.
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France striker Antoine Griezmann, who scored twice when Atletico eliminated Barcelona in the quarterfinals, nearly increased the lead from close range in the 30th – but Neuer made a great save with his left foot.
