Atletico Madrid and Benfica beat Manchester United and Ajax respectively with an identical score-line of 1-0 to enter the Champions League last-8 along with Villarreal, who thrashed Juventus 3-0 in Turin.
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Atletico Madrid overcame Manchester United while Villarreal stunned Juventus and Ajax’ dream-run came to an end against Benfica in the Champions League round of 16 stage. Atletico beat United 1-0 in the second leg fixture at Old Trafford to book a place in the quarter-finals of the competition along with Villarreal, who produced a brilliant performance to beat the Serie A giants 3-0 in the away leg and secure a 4-1 aggregate win. Meanwhile Ajax, who had a stunning group stage, winning all six of their games, lost 3-2 on aggregate against the Portuguese side after the 1-0 second leg loss.
Atletico head coach Diego Simeone produced a tactical masterstroke to get the better of the Premier League giants. Atleti came out with a clear game-plan to sit back and defend and, hit the opposition on the counter’s. The La Liga champions executed the plan effectively as Renan Lodi headed home from Antoine Griezmann’s cross on 41 minutes to take the lead.
After taking the lead, Simeone’s side gave emphasis to their defensive duties and made themselves as solid at the back as possible. Despite having the majority of ball possession, the Cristiano Ronaldo lead United attack failed to break through a resolute Atletico defence.
READ MORE – Renan Lodi’s goal takes Atleti to the quarter-finals of Champions League
Elsewhere, Villarreal produced one of the upsets of the competition as they thrashed Juve 3-0 at Allianz Stadium on Wednesday. The first leg in Spain had ended 1-1 after Dusan Vlahovic’s opener was canceled out by Dani Parejo’s later strike. But the Europa League champions produced a stunning second-half performance in Turin to put three goals past Massimiliano Allegri’s side.
The Yellow Submarine broke the deadlock through Gerard Moreno’s penalty kick on 78 minutes before Pau Torres doubled the lead from set-piece seven minutes later and then Arnaut Danjuma completed the drubbing with an injury-time goal from the penalty spot.
It was a clinical performance from Unai Emery’s side as they managed to register just three shots on target and scored three goals from that. The Yellow Submarine are in the champions League quarter-finals for the first time in 13 years.
Benfica also displayed a defensive masterclass to get the better of an in-form Ajax. The first leg in Portugal had finished 2-2 but Darwin Nunez’ lone goal made the difference at Amsterdam Stadium.
Ajax had dominated the proceedings for a major part of the game and the visitors were pushed to the back-foot. The Dutch club had the bulk share of ball possession and created more than 16 chances but registered just two shots on target.
Benfica maintained their defensive discipline for more than 75 minutes, and then scored the winner against the run of play when Nunez headed home from a free-kick 13 minutes from time. Benfica registered only one shot on target in the entire match and that was enough to take them to the last-8 of Europe’s elite competition.
