Club Brugge headed to the Spanish capital for the return match of the Champions League play off round. As it is a Belgian team, I went together with my father and brother to the Metropolitano to see if Club Brugge could go through in front of about 73 thousand fans.
Last week it was already a real spectacle with many goals, it ended 3:3 at the Jan Breydel Stadium. In the Venice of the north, the team of Diego Simeone gave away a lead three times.
Almost nobody expected it to be an easy job in Madrid. Atlético had not lost a knockout match in the Champions League at home since 1997, and for Simon Mignolet it could even be his last European match of his career. Although the Belgian will also quickly remember his amazing performance at the Metropolitano in 2022, when he stopped almost every shot from the Madrid players with every part of his body.
The match started and both teams went full in. The hosts had the first real chance of the game when Giuliano Simeone ran onto a dangerous cross, but Brugge got away after a VAR check for a possible foul by Simon Mignolet coming out
In the 22nd minute, Los Rojiblancos scored first. After a great long ball from goalkeeper Jan Oblak, Alexander Sorloth ran towards the Brugge goal. He pushed Brandon Mechele away too easily and shot at goal. Simon Mignolet made a big mistake and could have done more with the ball. It is 1:0 for Atlético.
Club Brugge kept believing in their chances because they played very good football. About 10 minutes after the first goal they scored the equaliser. After a well taken corner, Brandon Mechele headed the ball towards Joel Ordóñez, who easily scored the deserved 1:1. Last week the Ecuadorian scored an own goal in the end, but now he brings his team level.
Right after that, the visitors almost took the lead as Christos Tzolis reached the byline and crossed the ball well, Hugo Vetlesen headed it, but Jan Oblak made an unbelievable save to keep it out. The team of Ivan Leko played a great match and were not worse than the team that is worth three times more on paper.
The second half had just started and Brugge were immediately under pressure. Johnny Cardoso struck a powerful shot from outside the penalty area after a loose ball. The American scored his first goal for Los Rojiblancos and it will be one to remember.
After that Club Brugge kept fighting. Right after the goal Tzolis came close to another equaliser, but Oblak stopped him with another strong save. Brugge pushed forward and this created a lot of space at the back. Diego Simeone saw this and brought in the very fast Ademola Lookman to play on that.
Not long after that, Club Brugge were caught on a counter attack when Lookman was played through. The Nigerian first combined with substitute Antoine Griezmann before putting the ball in front of goal. Kyriani Sabbe could not clear it and Alexander Sorloth scored his second of the night. 3:1 for Atlético, it now looked finished.
If Brugge still had some hope left, it disappeared four minutes before the end. Matteo Ruggeri sent in a perfect cross from the left and Sorloth scored his hat trick in style. He hit the ball cleanly and scored his first hat trick in the Champions League.
The match ended 4:1. Clear numbers, but the result does not really show the full story. The difference between both teams was not that big, especially over the two matches. The team of Ivan Leko can look back on a great journey that started all the way in the qualification round in August.
In this campaign, too, they have once again shown the whole of Europe that there is tremendous talent walking around in Belgium. Just think of players like Joel Ordóñez, Aleksander Stanković, and Christos Tzolis, who are enjoying the attention of top European clubs more than ever.
But it was not meant to be. Atlético go through to the round of 16. In that round they will face an English team, either Liverpool or Tottenham. With the poor form of Tottenham, Atlético fans will already hope they can welcome them soon at the Metropolitano.
