Atlético Madrid Maintains Its Method, Madness and Magic After All

There is a way in which Atlético Madrid does these things. It is not pretty and it is often not edifying, but it is, over and over again, more effective than it appears it ought to be. Atlético had a poor group stage in this season's Champions League, at one point losing three straight matches. It had a poor first half away to Porto Tuesday in a match it had to win. But then it found a goal from a set play and, having had a man sent off, was able to wrest back the initiative by taking the game into the gutter and provoking a Porto red card. The 3–1 scoreline bore little relation to the game that produced it, and Porto will wonder how on earth it lost, but it’s Atletico who will be in the last 16. It'll join group winner Liverpool, while Porto, in third, drops to the Europa League knockout stage and AC Milan bows out of Europe entirely.

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