Atletico Madrid defeated Inter Milan in the fifth round of the UEFA Champions League main phase, with a final score of 2-1, in a duel that took place at the “Riyadh Air Metropolitano” in the Spanish capital and was decided in extra time by Jose Maria Gimenez, who scored from Antoine Griezmann’s cross. The “Rojiblancos” climbed to 12th place in the general standings, while the “nerazzurri” occupy the fourth place. In fact, the club coached by Diego Simeone has reached five consecutive successes recorded on home soil, while the group trained by Cristian Chivu lost another duel of great importance, after the failure suffered in the “Derby Della Madoninna” in the company of AC Milan.
Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan “faced off” in the fifth round of the UEFA Champions League, a match that counted for the main phase of the competition. “Los colchoneros” occupied, before the starting whistle of the match, the 20th position in the general standings with a total of six points accumulated after the first four rounds played and with a goal difference of +1, while the “nerazzurri” were on the podium with the maximum score, being tied in this chapter with Bayern Munich and Arsenal London, managing to score 11 goals and concede one in all this time.
The latest round of the “stars” competition brought a success for each team, the students trained by Diego Simeone defeating Royale Union Saint-Gilloise on their home field with a two-goal difference, and the team from “Giuseppe Meazza” overcame Kairat Almaty, in Milan, with a final score of 2-1. In fact, at “Civitas Metropolitano”, the “rojiblancos” had won, before this duel, the last eight duels played, the team that most recently “confused” the group from the Spanish capital in front of its own supporters, being Elche, in August of this year, when the game ended in a draw.
The last failure recorded by Atletico Madrid in its own arena was in April of 2025, when Barcelona narrowly prevailed, final score 1-0, in the second leg of the semi-final of the “Copa del Rey”. In the opposing camp, the situation of the matches played away showed that Inter Milan, in the most recent five such confrontations, recorded four triumphs and a single failure, the defeat being recorded in the company of Napoli, in Serie A. Diego Simeone did not have Robin Le Normand and Marcos Llorente available for this game, while Jan Oblak returned between the goals, and Cristian Chivu could not rely on the services of Matteo Darmian, Denzel Dumfries and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, among others.
The two clubs, prior to the confrontation that took place in the Spanish capital, had met on a total of five occasions, three of them being official matches, and the other two being friendly matches. In 2010, the European Super Cup final, which took place in the Principality of Monaco, ended with the success of the “rojiblancos” team, so that, later, in the 2023/2024 season, in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan would stand “face to face” again. After a close success at “Giuseppe Meazza” by the host team, qualification was decided at the end of the penalty shootout, and “los colchoneros” won.
A first goal opportunity in this confrontation was recorded in the third minute, when, from a free kick executed from the edge of the box, from the right corner, Federico Dimarco, was rejected under the crossbar by Juan Musso. The same left-back received a pass in free space from Piotr Zielinski, but the Italian’s shot narrowly missed the goal defended by the former Atalanta goalkeeper. Atletico Madrid then caused their first problems in the game with Yann Sommer’s goal, when the Argentine connection between Nahuel Molina and Julian Alvarez was close to being completed by the former River Plate forward, but “La Naranja” did not reach the ball.
A counterattack initiated by Cristian Chivu’s players was on the verge of opening the scoring, after Nicolo Barella took the ball, advanced towards the opposing goal and passed to Ange-Yoann Bonny, who set the ball up for Lautaro Martinez to shoot. The Argentine’s shot was poor, so Juan Musso kept the ball. “Los colchoneros” then scored through Julian Alvarez, who scored from the goal, but Francois Letexier canceled the home team’s success, due to a foul committed by Alex Baena. However, after checking the replays, the French center pointed towards the center of the field, so that Atletico Madrid took the lead of the game from the first quarter of an hour of the match.
Inter Milan created danger at the opposing goal in the 20th minute, when, from about 25 meters, after receiving a pass from Federico Dimarco, Hakan Calhanoglu shot strongly, and, after the ball “bite” the turf, Juan Musso rejected it out of the field. Julian Alvarez “tried his luck” shortly after the first half of the first half, the Argentine striker decided to shoot from distance, but his execution was easily caught by Yann Sommer. One of the most important chances that the “nerazzurri” created in the first half belonged to Lautaro Martinez, but the South American forward, sliding, shot into Juan Musso’s block.
A huge opportunity was squandered by the Milanese side towards the end of the first half when a backheel from Yann Biseck was met by Federico Dimarco from the edge of the penalty area. The Italian international’s shot went just wide of the right post. Inter Milan came close to equalising shortly after the restart when Nicolo Barella found himself alone in the box and flicked the ball over Juan Musso, but the crossbar blocked the shot.
Federico Dimarco was in position to finish a few moments later when he received a through ball from Hakan Calhanoglu, but the Italian left-back’s low shot was saved by the home goalkeeper. The equalizer came in the 54th minute of the game, when the combination of Ange-Yoann Bonny and Piotr Zielinski allowed the Polish central midfielder of the “nerazzurri” to prepare his execution and score with a shot sent to the far corner, with the width of his right foot. Matteo Ruggeri sent a cross to the far post, where Giuliano Simeone resumed from the first, from a volley, but the ball went over the Milanese team’s goal.
Alex Baena tried to score from long range, when he arranged his ball for completion, but the ball sent by the Atletico Madrid footballer did not find the frame of the “nerazzurri” goals. A shot sent from long range by Giuliano Simeone went over the crossbar. Alexander Sorloth was one step closer to putting his team back in the lead, but his volley, after a cross from Nicolas Gonzalez, could not be squared. Antoine Griezmann had one of the best chances of the match, when the 2018 world champion had his foot in the goal and his shot was blocked by Yann Sommer.
Marcus Thuram headed over Juan Musso’s goal after a cross from Davide Fratessi. In the final minute of added time, Jose Maria Gimenez rose to head home Antoine Griezmann’s cross with an unstoppable header, ensuring Atletico Madrid secured all three points and maintained their unbeaten home record this season. The success saw Diego Simeone’s side move up to 12th in the table, while Inter Milan fell to fourth.
In the next round of the “stars” competition, the “Rojiblancos” will travel to the Netherlands to face PSV Eindhoven, unlike the “nerazzurri” who will play at the “Giuseppe Meazza” in the company of Liverpool. However, until the time of these continental games, the group from the Spanish capital will play in LaLiga against Real Oviedo, in front of their own fans, and the club from Italy will face Pisa in Serie A.