Barcelona’s Arda Turan, left, and Atletico’s Lucas Hernandez, right, challenge for the ball during the Champions League second-leg quarter-final match Wednesday.Paul White/The Associated Press
Antoine Griezmann scored a goal in each half to give Atletico Madrid an emphatic 2-0 win over defending champion Barcelona and a spot in the semi-finals of the Champions League on Wednesday.
Griezmann opened the scoring in the 36th minute and then sealed the victory with a late penalty kick to allow Atletico to reverse the 2-1 first-leg loss at Camp Nou with a 3-2 victory on aggregate.
The result sent Diego Simeone's team, which had played most of the first leg match with 10 men, to the semifinals for the second time in the last three seasons.
And it shattered the hopes of favourite Barcelona, which has reached the semi-finals seven times in the last eight seasons.
In Lisbon, Bayern Munich drew 2-2 at Benfica on Wednesday to reach the Champions League semi-finals for the fifth consecutive season with a 3-2 aggregate victory and remain on track for a treble of titles.
Arturo Vidal's 38th-minute goal cancelled out the hosts' lead 11 minutes earlier through Raul Jimenez' header. Bayern added another goal with a Thomas Mueller volley from a Javi Martinez header in the 53rd minute to knock out the Portuguese, who managed a late equalizer through Talisca.
Former European champions Benfica were vying for their first semi-final appearance in more than a quarter of a century but suffered their fourth elimination in their fourth European tie against Bayern.
Atletico Madrid left the Camp Nou infuriated with the refereeing last week after its striker Fernando Torres was sent off in the 35th minute. On Wednesday, it was Barcelona that had reason to complain after a hand ball by Gabi Fernandez that appeared to be inside the area – but was judged by the referee outside the box in second-half injury time.
Lionel Messi's ensuing free kick sailed over the crossbar in his team's last chance.
Only twice has Barcelona failed to advance after winning the first leg in its previous 40 attempts in UEFA competitions.
It was Atletico's first win over Barcelona since Luis Enrique took over the Catalan club after the 2013-14 season. Luis Enrique's team had won the previous seven games against Simeone.
Simeone succeeded on Wednesday by keeping in check Barcelona's offensive trio of Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. Barcelona wasn't able to threaten until late in the game, and even then it couldn't create many clear chances.
Messi again failed to score his elusive 500th career goal. The playmaker is enduring his worst scoring slump with Barcelona in five years and hasn't scored since a win over Arsenal in the round of 16 of the Champions League.
Needing a victory, Atletico pushed forward early on and had a few decent scoring chances before Griezmann finally broke through with his header from near the penalty spot. After a ball recovered near the sideline, youngster Saul Niguez used the outside of his left foot to make a well-placed cross to the France striker, who headed past Barcelona keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
His second came after a dangerous counterattack started by Filipe Luis, whose cross into the area was blocked by Andres Iniesta with his arm – giving Atletico a penalty that was calmly converted by Griezmann.
Barcelona had also been eliminated by Atletico in the quarterfinals of the 2013-14 season, when the rival eventually reached the final and lost to Real Madrid.
Griezmann has scored six goals in this season's Champions League, and 10 in the last 10 Atletico games in all competitions.
With a report from Reuters