Saul Niguez’s incredible solo strike handed Atletico Madrid a narrow 1-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League semi- final at Vicente Calderon on Wednesday.
Diego Simeone-led Atletico began to press from the start and Fernando Torres came close to opening the scoring in the first five minutes but his drilled shot from 20 yards out was blocked by David Alaba.
Atletico utilised their dominance to break the deadlock in the 11th minute, when 21-year-old Spanish midfielder Niguez, took on the Bayern defence alone from 40 yards out, dribbled past three more opponents before curling the ball past Manuel Neuer into the bottom corner to hand Atletico the lead.
Bayern almost levelled two minutes later before Aturo Vidal’s header was sent out for a corner and Xabi Alonso’s resulting delivery was calmly collected by Jan Oblak.
The Bavarians continued to press for an equaliser as the half wore on but Philipp Lahm’s effort was blocked by Jose Gimenez, and Antoine Griezmann’s close-range effort was toe-tipped to safety after a break for Atletico.
The visitors started the second half with an intent as Pep Guardiola’s half-time team talk looked to have made an impact. Alaba’s long-range strike was denied by the crossbar in the 53rd minute.
The German side continued to dominate possession, Oblak doing well to thwart Javi Martinez’s header to keep his clean sheet intact for awhile.
Poland striker, Robert Lewandowski, was unlucky as his effort across Oblak’s goal rolled just wide before Guardiola brought on Franck Ribery and Thomas Mueller for Coman and Thiago Alcantra respectively in an effort to savage an equaliser.
In a quick counter attack orchestrated by Griezmann, the Frenchman played the ball towards Torres, who then struck the post from close range and a rebounding effort from Koke was comfortably kept out by Neuer.
Atletico held on for a slim victory, an advantage going into the second leg next week at the Allianz Arena.
