Barcelona are out of the UEFA Champions League despite a 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid in the second leg of their quarterfinal match at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano Stadium on Tuesday night.
Atletico Madrid, instead, advanced to the semifinals on a 3-2 aggregate scoreline after the 2-0 win at the Camp Nou last week.
Ademola Lookman’s goal proved to be the decisive factor in the game.
It only took Barcelona four minutes into the game to make a mark after Lamine Yamal put the hosts ahead when Ferran Torres capitalised on a back pass and laid the ball to Yamal, who only had to put a slight touch to open the scoring.
Twenty minutes later, Barcelona doubled their lead through Torres, firing the ball into the top right corner of the net after driving a pass from Dani Olmo into the 18-yard-box.
However, Lookman reduced the deficit for Atletico Madrid in the 31st minute as he calmly slotted home a low cross into the box by Marcos Llorente.
Neither of the two teams managed to score for the remainder of the first half.
Torres thought he had netted Barcelona’s third goal 10 minutes into the second half after lopping home a deflected ball from close range, but the strike was ruled out for an offside by the Video Assistant Referee.
The visitors’ momentum suffered a huge blow in the 79th minute after Eric Garcia was sent off for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity following a tackle on Alexander Sorloth.
Atletico Madrid fiercely defended the scoreline for the remainder of the match to book a place in the final four, in which they will face the winner of the quarterfinal match between Arsenal and Sporting Lisbon.
At Anfield, Paris Saint-Germain also secured a semifinal spot after beating Liverpool 2-0 to progress on a 4:0 aggregate scoreline after the win in France last week.
After a goalless draw for the majority of the match, Ousmane Dembele found the net twice in the 72nd minute and added time to help the visitors claim victory.
PSG will wait for the outcome of the quarterfinal game between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid to know their semifinal opponent.
PG