Antoine Griezmann struck a late goal for ten-man Atletico to give the La Liga giants a draw and a crucial away goal at the Emirates.
Live betting fans reacted quickly as Atletico went down to ten men early in the game, but the Spaniards defended brilliantly throughout, and got their reward when Griezmann fired home. Atletico started the game as favourites to lift the title at betting odds of 2.10, and they are set to tighten after tonight’s results.
Meanwhile, it’s advantage Marseille as the Ligue 1 side beat Salzburg 2-0.
Arsenal 1-1 Atletico Madrid
The telling action in north London came late on, but there was also early drama when fullback Sime Vrsalijko picked up a yellow card on just three minutes. But the Croatian didn’t worry about that, until he picked up a second seven minutes later when he tripped Alexandre Lacazette. And that meant the Gunners had 80 plus minutes to play against ten men but, well as they played, they couldn’t penetrate the depleted Atletico defence throughout the first half. Arsenal had 15 shots in the first 45 as Atleti keeper Jan Oblak made three super saves.
The Emirates crowd did everything it could to lift the team; it’s a shame they hadn’t supported the Gunners and their manager like this throughout the season. And it did the trick; Jack Wilshere played a smart one-two with Aaron Ramsey before lifting a superb cross for Lacazette to head home.
Danny Welbeck was inches away from making it two but the home crowd’s cheers turned to groans on 82 minutes when Laurent Koscielny made a hash of a clearance to give Antoine Griezmann two chances to score, and that was enough as he fired into the roof of the net. As the clock ran down Oblak made a brilliant save to deny Ramsay, but that was that; advantage Atletico.
Marseille 2-0 Salzburg
Dimitri Payet was in superb form in Marseille to help give the favourites a commanding first leg lead. The hosts were the better side from the off and former West Ham star Payet had an early sight of goal, shooting just wide. Then, on 15 minutes, the Stade Velodrome erupted as former West Ham star Payet centred for Florian Thauvin to convert from close range.
The French couldn’t add to that before the break, but Payet continued to run the show in the second half, and shortly after crossing for Thauvin to force a save, he put in Clinton N’Jie who gleefully fired into the bottom corner. 2-0, and Marseille have taken a good stride towards the final.
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
