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Why Atletico Madrid Consider Goalkeeper Jan Oblak to Be Their Leo Messi

B/R

In March 2017, Atletico Madrid played Bayer Leverkusen in a UEFA Champions League knockout tie. It was one of Atletico's final European Cup games at the old Vicente Calderon Stadium, and they were defending a 4-2 lead from the first leg in Germany.

Midway through the second half—with the teams scoreless—Atletico Madrid's central defender Jose Maria Gimenez coughed up possession with a lax cross-field pass. Julian Brandt, a German international, took the gift and bore down on goal. Once he got inside the box, he pulled the trigger, but Jan Oblak saved his shot.

The ball fell to the left foot of Brandt's fellow German international teammate Kevin Volland, but a despairing lunge from Oblak stopped his shot from going in, too.