March 13, (THEWILL) – Real Madrid progressed to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals following a tense penalty shoot-out victory against city rivals Atletico Madrid. Despite suffering a 1-0 defeat in the second leg at the Metropolitano Stadium, Carlo Ancelotti’s side prevailed on penalties after the tie finished 2-2 on aggregate.
Atletico stunned the visitors when Conor Gallagher scored after just 27 seconds, levelling the aggregate score. The match remained deadlocked through 120 minutes of play, with Vinicius Junior missing a potential match-winning penalty in normal time after Kylian Mbappe was fouled in the area.
The penalty shoot-out provided extraordinary drama when Julian Alvarez had his spot-kick disallowed following a VAR review that identified a double-touch violation as he slipped during his run-up. Though Lucas Vazquez later saw his penalty saved by Jan Oblak, Atletico could not capitalise as Marcos Llorente struck the crossbar with his attempt.
Antonio Rudiger converted the decisive penalty for Real Madrid, with his shot narrowly evading Oblak’s reach to send the European champions through. The victory sets up a quarter-final clash against Premier League side Arsenal in the next round of the competition.
Real Madrid remain on course to defend their Champions League title as they continue their European campaign.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
