Sebastien Haller scored a goal for Borussia Dortmund that gave them hope despite a 2-1 loss to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-finals.
Diego Simeone’s men were competitive with the urgency of their home side and found themselves ahead in the 4th minute when Rodrigo De Paul put in a terrible pass from Ian Maatsen.
Atletico were quicker and more precise all over the pitch in the first half and made it 2-0 when Samuel Lino hid behind an exquisite pass from Antoine Griezmann.
Dortmund simply needed it after the break and the arrival of Julian Brandt gave them life. That said, the goal probably didn’t come until Haller appeared with a ruthless shot from 15 yards.
They came close to making it 2-2 with the last shot of the game, but Brandt’s header hit the crossbar.
Atletico came into the match having lost none of their Champions League knockout matches in Simeone’s 12 years in charge. And he did it with wonderful confidence.
De Paul brought the hosts back after Maatsen gave the ball away. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel passed the ball to the Chelsea loanee defender, who made a frightened pass across the pitch and Argentina passed to Kobel.
Another defensive error doubled the lead for Samuel Lino, who will miss next week’s second leg after being booked. Griezmann stayed in the game before receiving a clever side pass to Lino and made no mistake.
The arrival of Brandt and later Haller steadied Dortmund’s ship, but Jan Oblak didn’t have much to do in Madrid’s goal, until he was given the ball outside his net with nine minutes remaining.
Moments after Lino was denied by a stunning save from Kobler, Haller discovered the area inside the box and ruthlessly fired a low shot into the corner to increase the German side’s chances in next week’s second leg.
It is possible that they would have succeeded if Brandt’s next header had not gone off the crossbar with the last shot of the match.
Atlético host Girona in La Liga (13:00 CET), while Dortmund visit Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga (14:30), with both matches taking place on Saturday, before the second leg at Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday 16 April (20:00). ).