Champions League: Atletico Madrid and Manchester United separate draw

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United later cheered - thanks to Rangnick's wildcard Anthony Elanga

Photo: Manu Fernandez/AP

Rangnick's comeback:

Ralf Rangnick, who was Schalke at the time, was in charge of a team in the knockout stages of the Champions League for the last time in May 2011.

In the semi-finals came the end against – Manchester United.

3948 days later the comeback followed as a United coach – with a happy ending.

Result:

In the game of fifth from Spain against fourth from England, Atlético Madrid and Manchester United drew 1-1 (1-0) in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.

Read the match report here.

First half:

Pep Guardiola is likely to break out in a sweat today when he thinks about the first 15 minutes of the 2016 semi-final clash between Atlético and Bayern.

The Spaniards acted in the early stages against the guests from Manchester in a similarly offensive and dominant manner as they did back then.

The logical consequence: the 1-0 through João Félix.

Renan Lodi crossed from the left and the 22-year-old Portuguese hit the inside post with a powerful header, from where the ball crossed the line (7th minute).

The hosts dominated, United just ran behind.

A great chance to make it 2-0 just before the break: another cross came from the left, but this time Šime Vrsaljko failed to hit the crossbar (45').

Schuster's legacy:

It's hard to believe - these two heavyweights in continental club football have only met once before: In 1991 Atlético had prevailed in the second round of the European Cup Winners' Cup, the last goalscorer before Felix was a certain Bernd Schuster.

Like the young attacking player from Atléti, a friend of the ball.

Second half:

The intensity increased as United stepped up their efforts.

Although the two goalkeepers Jan Oblak and homecomer David De Gea remained almost unemployed, it was an exciting and well-watched game.

The Romanian referee Ovidiu Hațegan distributed yellow card after yellow card.

19-year-old Anthony Elanga then used the guests' only opportunity from the inside right after a perfect pass from Bruno Fernandes (80').

Antoine Griezmann hit the bar from a suspected offside position (87'), that's it.

Rangnick's failed trick:

At United, Rangnick acts as a transition coach, who should nevertheless ensure short-term improvement.

Very pragmatic, he initially concentrated on stabilizing the defensive, his passion counter-pressing only gradually came to light.

In Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano he had given Victor Lindelöf a special assignment.

The regular central defender moved to the right-back position, which should be interpreted by the Swedes as the right winger in a back three.

The idea: In the absence of a trustworthy outside player, lure out the strong center of the Spaniards and outplay them with the powerful Lindeöf.

It did not work.

Atlético did not let themselves be lured, United had little access to the game, especially in central defensive midfield.

Rangnick's successful trick:

After the away goals rule was abolished, a 0-1 defeat away is less bad than in previous years.

Nevertheless, Rangnick took the risk, taking two pillars of his team from the field with Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford.

It paid off: Nemanja Matić brought calm to the headquarters, Elanga scored the most important goal of his young career in his second premier class appearance.

They have cultivated positive intervention from the bench at United this season: the club has already scored ten wildcard goals in the Premier League, four more than the second-best team in these statistics.

Ronaldo against his favorite opponent:

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored four hat-tricks in his long career against Atlético, with the last one he spectacularly advanced Juventus single-handedly in spring 2019 after a 0-2 first-leg defeat.

For Real, he converted the decisive penalty against his favorite opponent in the final, and the following year – with a hat trick, of course – decided the semi-final duel.

This time he was far removed from all these glorious deeds.

Mostly doubled and cut off from his team's attacking efforts, he gesticulated, cursed, shook his head.

Goal number 26 against Atlético has to wait at least until the second leg (March 15, 9 p.m.).

No Suárez, no Griezmann:

Diego Simeone is currently worried.

Hard to play and hard to beat, that's how Atlético was known.

But things are different this season for the reigning Spanish champions, who have already conceded 34 goals in the league, twice as many as at the same time last season.

However, the Argentine coach's countermeasures were implemented 50 meters further up: Luis Suárez and Griezmann, who was recovering from an injury, initially sat on the bench, while the stronger Felix and Ángel Correa started.

The two kept ruffling the United defense until Felix was substituted in the 75th minute.

But then Elanga met.