Atletico firms for final
ANTOINE Griezmann scored late for 10-man Atletico Madrid to draw at Arsenal 1-1 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final yesterday.
Griezmann’s 82nd-minute equaliser after some clumsy defending from Laurent Koscielny was against the run of play but was reward for the team’s stout defending in the aftermath of Sime Vrsaljko’s early sending off.
With the away goal, Atletico has to be considered the favourite to progress to the final on May 16 in Lyon.
The second leg is in the Spanish capital on Friday. The winner looks like it will play Marseilles, which beat Salzburg 2-0 in their first leg with goals from Florian Thauvin and Clinton N’Jie.
Atletico coach Diego Simeone, who was sent to the stands in the 13th minute for remonstrating with referee Clement Turpin, was full of praise for his team’s defensive performance. “These players are basically heroes,” he said.
Simeone’s game plan had to be revised at the 10th minute when Vrsaljko, who had been booked for an early challenge on Jack Wilshere, picked up a second yellow card for a late tackle on Alexandre Lacazette.
From that moment, Arsenal dominated, but it wasn’t able to translate that dominance into a goal until the 61st.
Wilshere looped a cross to the far post that was steered in by a leaping Lacazette.
With just eight minutes of regular time remaining, Griezmann pounced on a long punt forward that was badly mishandled by Koscielny.