Luis Suarez’s last-gasp penalty gave Atletico Madrid a 2-1 comeback win on Tuesday at AC Milan, who failed to hold on to their early lead after playing for an hour with 10 men.
Seven-time European champions Milan thought they were on for their first Champions League win since 2013 when Rafael Leao opened the scoring with 19 minutes gone in the Group B clash at the San Siro, but Antoine Griezmann struck with a superb volley with six minutes left to level the scores before Suarez’s stoppage-time spot-kick broke Milan hearts.
Diego Simeone’s side sit second in the group on four points, two behind Liverpool, after a win which looked unlikely until Franck Kessie was sent off in the 30th minute for a second bookable offence.
“Eleven against eleven, Milan were better than us, they played with more rhythm and were more dynamic. They pressed better than us and forced us to not play the way we wanted to,” Simeone told Sky Sport Italia.
“When the red card came they fell back and that allowed us to get back into a match in which, up until that point, we weren’t in the game at all.”
Milan were on top until then, snappy in the tackle and on top of Spanish champions every time the away side had the ball, but sit bottom with zero points following their second successive defeat.
“We’re disappointed because we were close to a really important result, a positive result against a really good team,” said Milan coach Stefano Pioli to Sky. “We played much better than them when it was 11 against 11 and that should make us more convinced of our qualities and our way of playing. “It’s a shame because the boys put in a really great effort and coming out of this game beaten makes things more complicated for us.”
