Atlético Madrid Takes the Dodgy Route

Last year’s Champions finalist had to go through to the competition's next stage via penalty shootout.

Atlético Madrid dropped at 0-1 decision in the first leg to Bayer Leverkusen before emerging as 1-0 winners in the second leg. That took it to the dreaded spot, where it prevailed, 3-2.

If a classifications were made in the Champions League, Atlético belongs to Europe's elites while Leverkusen plods along among the mediocre sides. But the elites don’t always perform to their full. Such was the case for Atlético in both legs.

The only goal of last night's match came through a series of heads and a deflected shot:

'Keepers hate when that happens.

The striped squad played their lovin' little hearts out, but the footballing gods just weren't into letting one in. More possession, more shots, more fluidity in play, but no reward. So, it was down to the Russian roulette that is the penalty shootout.

Speaking of, let's partake of how the entire night sounded in Russian:

Luckily for the Spaniard side, their 50-50 chance was better than that of the Germans. Kinda like pulling the right curtain string on the first try.

There's gotta be a better way to sort these things out.