UEFA Champions League: Real Madrid beats Atalanta 4-1 on aggregate, reaches quarterfinal | match report

Atalanta started pushing forard at a fast pace and should have been in the lead in three minutes only for Robin Gosens to shoot tamely at Courtois from Luis Muriel’s long cross. The visitors were made to regret the missed shot when Benzema broke the deadlock by Luka Modrić’s pass after a imperfect clearance by Marco Sportiello.

Madrid showed their dominance after the half time with Vinícius Júnior poking wide after a brilliant run then being cut down in the area by Rafael Tolói, Sergio Ramos putting the ball in the net in the penalty. Muriel did reduce liabilities with an amazing free-kick but Madrid swiftly completed the scoring as Marco Asensio scored the Madrid’s third on the counterattack.

Man of the Match: Luka Modrić (Real Madrid)

“Thanks to his balance in attack and defence, organisation of the game throughout and great assist for the first goal – the best player on the pitch for the whole game.” Ginés Meléndez, UEFA Technical Observer made the statement.

Player Reactions

Sergio Ramos, Real Madrid captain: “Our aim was to get through and we achieved that with a great result. We could have scored more and we’re happy with how we played. You adapt your approach to your opponent. We didn’t know how they were going to press but we quickly took control thanks to our three-at-the-back set-up. We knew that with their speed they could be dangerous, but it went well and they didn’t really threaten us.”

Luka Modrić, Real Madrid midfielder: “We had to match them physically and with the ball, and we did that. We’re really happy. The first goal was really important to get. The boss asked us to press high and that’s what we did, and it gave us confidence.”

Duván Zapata, Atalanta striker: “We’re disappointed as we wanted to progress. We struggled to play our football tonight, sadly it went like this. We started well, pressing high, but then our mistakes made it harder for us.”

Thibaut Courtois, Real Madrid goalkeeper: “I’m happy with the performance and getting through. We put in a lot of effort and could’ve scored more. Atalanta, who are a side who score a lot of goals in Italy, only got one against us and that was from a set piece. We were great defensively. We know how to press and when to take a step back.”

Key Statistics

• Benzema becomes the 5th player to score 70 UEFA Champions League goals after Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Robert Lewandowski and Raúl González.
• Real Madrid have scored in their last 22 UEFA Champions League knockout stage matches
• Atalanta in their last seven UEFA Champions League games have not scored a first-half goal.
• Madrid have scored 2 or more goals in their seven games out of eight UEFA Champions League games

Line-Up

Real Madrid: Courtois, Nacho, Varane, Ramos, Mendy, Kroos, Modrić, Valverde, Vázquez, Benzema, Vinícius

Atalanata: Sportiello, Tolói, Romero, Djimsiti, Mæhle, De Roon, Pessina, Gosens, Pašalić, Malinovskyi, Muriel