RB Leipzig 2-1 Atletico Madrid: 5 talking points | UEFA Champions League 2019-20
RB Leipzig stunned Atletico Madrid with a late winner to reach their first-ever semi-final in the Champions League in their debut season in the competition.
Dani Olmo opened the scoring for the Bundesliga club with a neat header just five minutes after the break before Joao Felix leveled the scores for Atletico Madrid from the spot in the second half.
The match was supposedly heading into extra-time but Tyler Adams popped with a late strike in the 87th minute, albeit off a deflection of Stefan Savic, to break Atletico hearts and send Leipzig through at the La Liga club's expense.
Die Roten Bullen now take on PSG in Tuesday's semi-final clash at the Estadio Da Luz. On that note, here are the five major talking points from the match:
Five talking points from Leipzig's 2-1 win over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals:
#1: Cagey first-half sees both teams largely cancel each other out
Atletico Madrid once again set up to hit on the break while RB Leipzig employed possession-based football. Both teams executed their plans well, but chances were at a premium in the opening stanza.
Atletico's threat chiefly stemmed from the left through Yannick Carrasco, whose constant forays were a cause of concern for Leipzig. But the Spanish giants couldn't carve out clear-cut opportunities in the final third as both their strikers Marcos Llorente and Diego Costa were almost non-existent.
Die Roten Bullen too, left a lot to be desired after a promising build-up. On far too many occasions, they got in and around the Atletico area with neat passes, but the latter's narrowness at the back forced Leipzig to execute hopeful punts in the box.
Despite flashes of promise from both teams, the match didn't see any real goal-mouth action at either ends and plausibly finished 0-0 at half-time.
#2: Diego Costa is a liability to Atletico
Diego Costa's homecoming at Atletico after his mini-Chelsea sojourn hasn't gone according to plan. Injuries have plagued his form as well as his time on the field, something which is reflected in the Spaniard's measly return of ten goals in the league in the last two and a half years.
With another below-par performance against Leipzig, it's painfully clear that Costa is no longer the talisman of the Atletico side like he once used to be; he has instead become a liability now.
For the 72 minutes that he lasted on the pitch, Costa was largely pedestrian. He made no concerted effort to test Leipzig and was also kept at arm's length by the brilliant Dayot Upamecano who followed him like a shadow and also came out on top in aerial duels too.
With a grand total of zero shots on target and also the least number of passes, Costa well and truly came a cropper as Simeone's decision to start the out-of-form striker ahead of Joao Felix was disconcerting, to say the least.