Journalists unravel an Anfield night where Liverpool’s play meant ‘they were pulling the white sheet over Atlético’s face’
“Suffering: that’s the slogan of Atlético Madrid,” João Félix said when at last it was all over, everyone still trying to work out what the hell had happened. “We’re very tired,” he added, and it showed: you could see it on their faces, disbelief and exhaustion, even shock, beyond the smiles at the end of a night they still could not explain. Diego Simeone looked shattered but, like his players, he was still standing. “This was a game that will go down in history, against an extraordinary opponent in a beautiful stadium,” Atlético’s manager said. “We held on, and held on, and held on …”
And then, somehow, Marcos Llorente appeared. The first time Simeone had set off, he had been stopped in his tracks, Saúl Ñíguez’s header ruled offside, the manager’s celebratory run up the line halted. It was the last minute of normal time and he must have thought it was the last chance. But another came, then another, then another. Three times they scored.
Liverpool had only got two, from 35 shots. “Atlético believe in miracles,” said the headline in El País, the club’s president insisting: “It has been a long time since we had a night like this.” Marca called it “Heroic” above a picture of Llorente celebrating.