By Betsefy
Atletico Madrid have been knocked out of Europe altogether courtesy of a 2-1 defeat to Porto, who go through to the Champions League last 16 as Group B winners.
First-half goals from Mehdi Taremi and Stephen Eustaquio secured all three points for the hosts in an entertaining contest at the Estadio do Dragao, with Ivan Marcano‘s own goal in second-half stoppage time proving scant consolation for Atletico.
Porto and Club Brugge had already secured their place in the last 16 prior to Tuesday’s matches, but the Portuguese outfit’s victory, coupled with a goalless draw between Brugge and Bayer Leverkusen, sees Porto leapfrog the Belgian side to win Group B.
Atletico, meanwhile, needed to match or better Leverkusen’s result in order to at least salvage a Europa League spot after Christmas, but their third defeat of the group stage condemned Diego Simeone‘s side to bottom spot.
The night could barely have got off to a worse start for the visitors as Porto broke the deadlock after only five minutes, Taremi tapping home his fifth Champions League goal of the season and 12th in all competitions after being found by Evanilson pass across the face of goal.
Eustaquio then doubled Porto’s advantage midway through the first half with the hosts’ 1,000th goal at the Estadio do Dragao, burying his first-time finish into the bottom corner after Galeno had beaten Stefan Savic to the ball and pulled it back into a dangerous area.
It could have been worse for Atletico too, with Jan Oblak making a string of saves to keep the score down as Atletico put in another display barely recognisable from the team that has enjoyed such success in this competition under Simeone.
The Slovenian shot-stopper kept out Galeno and Otavio in the first half to keep his side just about hanging on at half time, while more stops followed in an end-to-end second 45 minutes.
There were signs of life from Atletico at stages of that second half before they pulled one back in stoppage time, most notably when Antoine Griezmann saw a goal harshly ruled out for a foul in the buildup.
Angel Correa, Griezmann and Yannick Carrasco all threatened to spark a comeback, but when their goal did finally arrive – from the head of Marcano at an Atletico corner – is was too little too late.
With the possible exception of their disallowed goal, they could have no complaints either as Porto were every bit as dangerous going forward during the second half, leaving Atletico to face the rest of the season without any European football at all.
Leverkusen, meanwhile, will be heading into the Europa League knockout round playoffs having moved above Atletico into third in the group on the final day, with Brugge finishing second, one point behind Porto.
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