Real Madrid make light work of Atalanta to reach quarters

MADRID: Real Madrid easily overcame Atalanta 3-1 at home in their Champions League last-16 second leg on Wednesday (Mar 16) to stroll into the quarter-finals 4-1 on aggregate.

Karim Benzema scored a sixth goal in five games to put the 13-times European champions in charge after 34 minutes following a poor kick out by Atalanta goalkeeper Marco Sportiello which was intercepted by Luka Modric.

Captain Sergio Ramos put Real further at ease when he converted a penalty on the hour, although the Italian side managed to get one goal back thanks to a free kick from Luis Muriel in the 83rd.

But any hope they had of making a recovery was quickly dashed a minute later by a low strike from Real substitute Marco Asensio.

Real, who were knocked out in the last 16 by Manchester City last term and Ajax Amsterdam the season before, reached the last eight for the first time since 2018.

Zinedine Zidane’s side will be the only Spanish team left in Europe’s elite club competition unless city rivals Atletico Madrid overturn a 1-0 deficit at Chelsea on Wednesday.

“The most important thing was to get through as we hadn’t done that the last two years,” said Modric.

“We have to take each game as it comes and see how far we get but tonight we showed that there’s a lot of hunger still in this team and I hope we can go very far.”

The draw for the rest of the competition is on Friday.

Source: CNA