AFCON 2025
Ademola Lookman scored the decisive goal that helped knock out Barcelona on Tuesday night as Atletico Madrid reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time in almost a decade.
The Nigerian forward found the back of the net against Barcelona for the second time as the second leg ended 1-2 in favour of Barcelona.
However, Ademola Lookman’s goal was enough to help the Rojiblancos reach the semi-finals as the tie ended 3-2 on aggregate.
Barcelona came into the tie looking to overturn a two-goal deficit from the first leg and raced to a dream start at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium.
Lamine Yamal took advantage of a terrible mistake from Clement Lenglet to give Barcelona the lead after four minutes.
Spanish striker Ferran Torres doubled the lead 20 minutes later with a left-footed strike into the roof of the net.
Diego Simeone’s men were in sixes and sevens until Lookman calmed the nerves of the home fans with his sixth goal of the season.
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The 28-year-old forward got to the end of Marcus Llorente’s pass inside the box and fired a one-time shot into the net to make it 1-2 before the break.
Ferran Torres thought he had bagged his second of the night a few minutes into the second half but his goal was ruled offside.
Jan Oblak had a brilliant outing and kept Atletico Madrid in the tie with seven saves totalling 15 saves across two legs.
Barcelona were reduced to ten men in the final quarter of the tie as Eric Garcia received a straight red card for a contentious tackle on an opposition player.y
Ademola Lookman’s goal powered Atletico Madrid into the last four of the competition where they will take on Arsenal or Sporting Lisbon for a place in the final.
