Diego Simeone admitted Atletico Madrid were close to losing to Bayern Munich when the Germans were awarded a penalty.
Thomas Muller took the spot kick and had it saved by Jan Oblak but Fernando Torres fared no better from 12 yards in the second half, a moment Cholo agreed could have settled the Champions League semi-final much sooner.
“They were key. If they had scored it would have been very difficult. And then it would have done them a lot of harm if Torres scored,” he noted, AS reports.
“We had a terrible time in the last part. It wasn’t easy but we argued with courage for the result and we had great joy in the end.
“In the first half we saw a tremendous Bayern, pressing, playing, with speed, intensity. The first half was fantastic and we had little response to the situations they generated. In the second half it wasn’t the same game. It was more even, we did well on the counter, scored a goal and were closer to making the most of the goal in the first leg.
“This Champions League is spectacular, very difficult. We’ve overcome two of the three best in the world, having difficulties and suffering. But we had a good response at Vicente Calderon. The knockouts are two games.”
