Marko Arnautovic scored a goal as Inter Milan defeated Atletico Madrid 1-0 at San Siro Stadium, while PSV Eindhoven secured a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League last-16 first-leg tie on Tuesday night.
Arnautovic scored the lone goal in the 79th minute after replacing injured Marcus Thuram at half-time.
The Austria striker redeemed himself after several missed chances by squeezing the ball home after Lautaro Martinez’s shot was saved by goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
The 34-year-old player, who has had a tough season, had frustrated home fans with a series of wasted opportunities including a dreadful miss just after the hour mark which had supporters’ heads in their hands.
It was only the second time the teams had played each other, with Atletico winning 2-0 in the UEFA Super Cup back in 2010.
Speaking after the game, Atletico manager, Diego Simeone, said that he is positive for next month’s return leg in Madrid despite his team not having a single shot on target on Tuesday.
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Simeone said: “We didn’t have many chances unlike recent games. We controlled the match for long periods, but in the second half they created more chances.
“I’m optimistic, we lost today but we still have the home leg to play. We know what we’ll come up against, and how they play as we’ve just played them. Hopefully, we’ll be able to take advantage.”
PSV coach, Peter Bosz, was left ruing missed chances after his side squandered several opportunities in a 1-1 draw with Borussia Dortmund.
“In the second half, we had loads of chances. It was a shame that we didn’t score a second,” Bosz told reporters after the game at the Philips Stadion.
Donyell Malen snatched a vital goal to earn the Bundesliga giants the away draw at his old club but wasteful PSV were left to wonder what could have been.
PSV midfielder, Malik Tillman, fluffed two gilt-edged chances in front of goal, once firing wide after a clever through-ball from veteran Dutch striker Luuk de Jong.
The visitors punished PSV’s profligacy, taking the lead against the run of play in the 24th minute when Malen squeezed a deflected shot into the top corner.
The controversial equaliser opened the game up, with chances at both ends, a flick by Dortmund’s Marius Wolf forcing a sharp save from Walter Benitez in the PSV goal.
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