Apr. 12: Atletico Madrid earned a 2-1 Champions League quarter-final first leg victory over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday, surviving a late onslaught from the visitors.

Rodrigo De Paul and Samuel Lino’s first half goals gave Diego Simeone’s side a commanding lead but Sebastien Haller pulled one back to give the German side a foothold in the tie ahead of next week’s return in Dortmund.

Edin Terzig said his side, fifth in the Bundesliga, were “very nervous” in the first half but they improved and hit the woodwork twice in the final stages of a match which saw security measures reinforced after the Islamic State (IS) group made threats against stadiums used for last-eight ties.

Atletico Madrid had flown out of the traps, keen to grasp a golden opportunity to reach the semi-finals for the first time since 2017. “We took a little first step, we wanted to win at home,” De Paul told Movistar. “Here we are strong, the fans give us a boost, these nights are incredible — you never know if they will be repeated, the truth is I am very happy.

“When you win, I always think it’s positive because if not, you never enjoy anything.” Despite not forcing an equaliser, Dortmund captain Emre Can said his team were content with the result. “On such a night, one can also go under… there were phases where they completely overpowered us in the duels,” Can told DAZN.

“So, we’ll take the 2-1 and everything is open for next week.”

Simeone was able to celebrate his 50th Champions League victory as a coach, becoming the ninth man to achieve the feat. Simeone and Atletico have yet to conquer the Champions League, but this win is a shaky step towards the semi-finals.

Dortmund showed it will not be a walk in the park, however, with their second half display. “We were very nervous and conceded two easy goals, (then) we managed to correct the situation,” said Terzic. “I told them to calm down — we didn’t draw but now we have a result that leaves the door open.”

Xavi hails ‘great victory’ 

Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez hailed his side’s 3-2 win away to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday, insisting it showed the Catalans could once again compete with the very best teams in Europe.

“We had time to prepare for this game and everything turned out very well, in defence and in attack. We are proud of the team. Paris played very well, but we kept their threat to a minimum,” Xavi said after substitute Andreas Christensen’s 77th-minute header gave Barca the victory at the Parc des Princes.

Raphinha had given the visitors the lead at half-time, only for PSG to turn the game on its head with goals by Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha in the first six minutes after the restart.

However, Raphinha volleyed in a Pedri pass to equalise before Christensen’s winner. “It is a great victory against one of the best teams in the world. It is very difficult to defend against this team because of how they press you, but we did it very well,” added Xavi, whose side are unbeaten in 12 games since he announced he would depart at the season’s end.

“We are only halfway there though, and it will be very difficult in Barcelona.” The Catalans are appearing in the last eight of the Champions League for the first time since 2020, when they lost 8-2 to Bayern Munich in Lisbon, and since Lionel Messi left the club.

It is their first away win in the knockout phase of the competition since 2019.

It was a disappointing night for PSG, with Kylian Mbappe for once failing to deliver on a big occasion.

He scored a hat-trick on the French club’s last visit to Barcelona in the competition in 2021, though, and their coach Luis Enrique is optimistic that they can still progress.

“Congratulations to Barca for the victory. I think we could have got a different result but we accept the scoreline tonight and are focused on turning it around,” he said after PSG suffered their first defeat since losing 2-1 away to AC Milan in the group stage in early November. (AFP)