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Real Madrid cruised through to the last eight of the UEFA Champions League with a 3-1 win over Atalanta Bergamo, winning the tie by an aggregate score of 4-1. Goals from Karim Benzema, Marco Asensio, captain Sergio Ramos sealed the tie at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano after Ferland Mendy's wondergoal in Bergamo over a fortnight ago.
Gian Piero Gasperini's men began the game brightly as they looked to instigate a comeback from their 1-0 deficit against the 13-time European champions. However, this lasted just over 25 minutes as the hosts began to grow into the game.
After a combined one shot on target from both sides in just over half an hour, the deadlock was finally broken after a dreadful error from Atalanta keeper Marco Sportiello. The Italian received the ball and chose to send it back out in a rush and arrowed it towards Luka Modric who was lurking around the penalty area.
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The former Ballon d'Or winner glided past Cristian Romero's challenge to set up Benzema with a 1v1 against Sportiello, who had no hope of saving the Frenchman's precise finish into the far post to score his 270th goal for Los Blancos.
Real Madrid began the second half with more energy and nearly doubled their lead via a moment of sheer brilliance from Vinicius Jr.
The Brazilian winger picked up the ball in his own half and played a quick one-two with Ferland Mendy who released him with acres of space to run into. Vinicius received the ball and rode past three onrushing Atalanta defenders and almost capped off a stunning goal, until he fluffed his lines at the very last moment as he dragged his shot wide.
Vinicius made amends for the miss, however, as he won a penalty for his side just minutes later with a similarly mazy run and was brought down by Rafael Toloi. Sergio Ramos converted the subsequent spot-kick to slot in his 101st goal for Real Madrid to double their advantage on the night.
Benema could have had a second on the night after a superb cross from Lucas Vazquez which he turned onto Sportiello first and then the post. Thibaut Courtois, on the other end, came up clutch for his side with a couple of superb saves, with one stop from a Duvan Zapata strike being an impressive one.
With eight minutes of regulation time left on the clock, Atalanta pulled one back via a stunning Luis Muriel free-kick. The Colombian curled a strike past an outstretched Courtois to score his 20th goal of the season to bring the scoreline on the night to 2-1.
His goal, however, made little to no difference in the grand scheme of things as Marco Asensio — who came on a minute before Muriel's goal — scored Real Madrid's third of the night just two minutes after the free-kick. Vazquez went on a superb run and set up his compatriot, Asensio, for a relatively easy near-post finish which the 25-year-old found in style.
After two successive years of failing to break into the last eight, Zinedine Zidane's men have finally managed to do so at the third time of asking as they join the likes of Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City, and other clubs.
Here are some of the best tweets from the game!
