Atletico Madrid have been dumped out of the Champions League after one of the most unbelievable finishes in football history.
Needing a win over German club Bayer Leverkusen to stay alive in the race for qualification to the elimination stages, the score was 2-2 when the referee blew the full-time whistle – only to award a penalty AFTER the match had seemingly ended.
VAR had spotted a Leverkusen handball in the box from an Atletico corner in the final play of the game, leaving Leverkusen players in utter disbelief when the referee awarded a penalty.
Yannick Carrasco took the resulting penalty in the 99th minute, only for Finnish keeper Lukas Hradecky to block the shot. It rebounded to Saul Niguez, who headed the ball into the crossbar. It then rebounded to another Atletico player, Reinildo Mandava, whose shot was destined for the bottom corner – but hit the back of Carrasco and rebounded over the goal.
The referee blew the full-time whistle once more after the stunning sequence, with the result seeing Atletico unable to finish in the top two of their group with one game to go.
Leverkusen led inside 10 minutes when Moussa Diaby finished calmly, but Carrasco leveled the score in the 22nd minute with a brilliant first-time drive from a Antoine Griezmann pass.
Former Chelsea gun Callum Hudson-Odoi handed Leverkusen the lead once more in the 29th minute after another quick counter-attack as the rollercoaster match took another twist, only for Atletico substitute Rodrigo de Paul made it 2-2 in the 50th minute, setting the scene for an all-time finish after the 90 minutes were up.
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