Atletico beat Inter on penalties to reach CL quarters

Madrid, Mar. 15: Atletico Madrid bounced back from two goals down on aggregate against Inter Milan to reach the Champions League quarter-finals with a thrilling 3-2 penalty shoot-out triumph on Wednesday.

Trailing by a single goal after last month’s first leg, Atletico looked dead and buried when Federico Dimarco pushed home Inter’s opener at the Estadio Metropolitano.

But Antoine Griezmann immediately pulled the hosts level on the night and three minutes before the end of the regulation 90 minutes substitute Memphis Depay took the tie to extra time at 2-2 with a fine low finish.

That set up the decisive shoot-out which ended with Inter missing three of their five penalties, star striker Lautaro Martinez handing passage to the last eight to Atletico when he booted his spot-kick way off target.

“I think penalties are a lottery. Today luckily I stopped two,” said Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak, who saved from Alexis Sanchez and Davy Klaassen.

“It’s not easy to stop a penalty. Sometimes it looks easy from the outside 

but it’s not.”

“I’m very, very happy for the team because I think we did a great match,” he added. “We played well. Maybe in the last month we’ve not been in great shape but we showed we can 

do much more.”

Simone Inzaghi’s Inter now turn their attentions back to winning their 20th Serie A title while Atletico await Friday’s draw for the last eight in Nyon.

“Once we went ahead we needed to be better, those three-four minutes in order to maintain that advantage Dimarco gave us,” said Inzaghi.

“At that moment the match seemed in our hands but instead they got back into the game.”

Sancho helps Dortmund past PSV

A third-minute goal from Jadon Sancho and Marco Reus’ late strike sent Borussia Dortmund through to the Champions League last eight with a 2-0 win on Wednesday, sealing a 3-1 aggregate victory.

Level at 1-1 after the last-16 first leg in the Netherlands, Sancho wasted no time in putting Dortmund ahead at the Westfalenstadion with a low shot from outside the area -- his first Champions League goal since November 2021.

Dortmund were shaky despite the early lead and needed a fair share of luck and some poor PSV finishing to progress, with Hirving Lozano’s 53rd-minute effort hitting the post.

PSV pushed forwards in stoppage time looking for an equaliser but instead gave away another goal, as Isaac Babadi’s unfortunate slip allowed Reus to seal the win.

“It feels very nice,” said Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. “We didn’t let them breathe in the first 30 minutes.

“I’m now looking forward to facing a very big opponent in the next round.”

The 1997 winners did enough against an outclassed PSV but will face stiffer challenges as they return to the quarter-final draw, to be held on Friday, for the first time since 2021.

“We’re happy about the first half, a bit frustrated about the second but were pleased that we’re going further in the competition,” Dortmund coach Edin Terzic told DAZN.

PSV were left to rue several missed chances, including when Luuk de Jong blazed over a golden opportunity deep into injury time.

“(We) had the game in our grip but just couldn’t score a goal,” said PSV boss Peter Bosz, who endured a disappointing six-month spell in charge of Dortmund in 2017.

“The Champions League is of course the highest level. We were so close. It hurts, but that’s how it is.”