Champions League bracket: Real Madrid bounce Atletico Madrid in controversial penalty kick shootout

Julian Alvarez had a converted penatly disallowed for a double touch and Real Madrid went on to win the shootout

Real Madrid booked their spot in the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals the hard way on Wednesday, beating Atletico Madrid 4-2 in a penalty shootout after the aggregate score was tied at 2-2.

The hosts took a lead within the first 30 seconds courtesy of Conor Gallagher, who leveled the aggregate score at 2-2 and scored the fastest goal of this season's competition. The two sides traded spells of possession and shots, but the match appeared to tilt Real Madrid's way when Clement Lenglet fouled Kylian Mbappe in the box and conceded a penalty. The ever-reliable Vinicius Junior missed his first penalty in a Real Madrid shirt in the 71st minute, setting up for a frantic finish to regular time.

Both sides had their chances in extra time, but neither side was able to find a go-ahead goal before the end of 120 minutes. The shootout was full of drama, with Real Madrid's Lucas Vazquez and Atletico Madrid's Marcos Llorente failing to convert their spotkicks. The most pivotal moment of the shootout, though, came with Julian Alvarez's kick -- the refereeing team, after some time, deemed that he kicked the ball twice before sending the ball in the back of the net, invalidating his penalty.

Real Madrid will face Arsenal when the competition resumes in early April.

Bracket

Wednesday's results

• Lille 1, Borussia Dortmund 2 (Dortmund win 3-1 on aggregate)
• Aston Villa 3, Club Brugge 0 (Aston Villa win 6-1 on aggregate)
• Arsenal 2, PSV 2 (Arsenal win 9-3 on aggregate) 
• Atletico Madrid 1, Real Madrid 0 (teams tied 2-2 on aggregate, Real Madrid win 4-2 on penalties)

Tuesday's results

• Barcelona 3, Benfica 1 (Barcelona win 4-1 on aggregate)
• Inter 2, Feyenoord 1 (Inter win 4-1 on aggregate)
• Liverpool 0, Paris Saint-Germain 1 (teams tied 1-1 on aggregate, PSG win 4-1 on penalties)
• Bayer Leverkusen 0, Bayern Munich 2 (Bayern win 5-0 on aggregate)

Quarterfinal matchups

• Arsenal vs. Real Madrid
• Paris Saint-Germain vs. Aston Villa
• Barcelona vs. Borussia Dortmund
• Bayern Munich vs. Inter

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:45 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Rudiger for the win!

Rudiger steps up and though Oblak gets a touch, it still goes in! Real Madrid advance 4-2 on penalties.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:44 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Llorente misses!

Llorente goes quickly from the spot but the ball hits the post! Real Madrid 3, Atletico 2

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:43 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Oblak with the save!

Vazquez steps up to take the spotkick for Real Madrid but he can't get the height on it so Oblak makes the save! Real Madrid 3, Atletico 2

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:43 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Correa on the board!

Correa scores but because of Alvarez's kick, they're behind. Real Madrid 3, Atletico 2

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:42 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Alvarez's penalty taken back!

The referee has ruled that Alvarez took two touches and so his penalty doesn't count! Real Madrid 3, Atletico 1

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:42 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Valverde scores!

Oblak guesses correctly but Valverde's able to slot his penalty into the back of the net anyway. Real Madrid 3, Atletico 2

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:40 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Alvarez on the board!

Alvarez is next for Atletico and he slides his strong strike underneath the crossbar. Real Madrid 2, Atletico 2

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:39 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Bellingham converts!

Bellingham's up next and he also slots the ball into the bottom right corner. Real Madrid 2, Atletico 1

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:39 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Sorloth on the board!

Sorloth steps up for Atletico and puts the ball in the back of the net. Real Madrid 1, Atletico 1

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:38 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Mbappe scores!

Mbappe steps up first and he takes a nice, clean strike and sends the ball in the bottom right corner. Real Madrid have a 1-0 lead in the shootout to start.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:31 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

To penalties we go

27 shots between the two teams, but only one turned into a goal -- and that was back in the first minute of this 120 minute game. There's one last stage of this round of 16 tie, and it will involve spotkicks. 

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:30 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Vinicius comes off

115' With five minutes plus stoppage time to go until penalties, Ancelotti makes a big call -- he takes off Vinicius for Endrick. Fresh legs will always come in handy but it's hard not to be reminded of Vinicius' penalty miss and wonder if that went into the decision.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:29 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Tensions flaring

115' These teams are in a frantic search for the go-ahead goal but quality chances are few and far beteen, the natural result of tired legs working in a panic. Llorente and Vazquez have a little bit of a heated exchange that ends with both getting booked -- and then getting back to work.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:22 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Real Madrid in the box

109' Real Madrid get a corner and though they don't score from it, they're able to recycle the ball multiple times over in the hopes of finding a goal. Diaz and Rudiger are on the list of players who have a chance at scoring but Atletico's defensive work means a quality shot is hard to come by.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:16 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Crucial freekick for Real Madrid

105'+1 Mbappe is fouled just outside the penalty area and so the visitors have a freekick. The ball naturally finds itself in the penalty box and Vazquez is the one with the last touch, but Oblak collects with relative ease.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:08 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Sorloth with a chance

99' Sorloth, who's had an impressive first season with Atletico, looks to add another goal to his account but it's a swing and a miss from clsoe range. No go-ahead goal just yet.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:07 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Reinildo with an injury

97' Reinildo falls to the ground and has an issue with his leg, and though he tries to make it work, it's clear he needs to come off. Azpilicueta comes on in his place. 

[Mar 12, 2025 at 6:00 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Extra time underway

Real Madrid have three substitutes to use, while Atletico have two.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:57 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Off to extra time

One goal, 19 shots and one missed penalty later, these two sides are deadlocked on aggregate at 2-2. You know what that means -- 30 minutes of extra time. Atletico have been the better side throughout with 13 shots and 1.45 expected goals, but with tired legs and a half-hour on the clock, it really is anyone's game.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:50 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Correa nearly scores

90' Correa's got the ball and barrels closer to the touchline, but he decides to go for goal and doesn't miss by much. The fourth official announces four minutes of stoppage time, a period that will undoubtedly be spent by players doing whatever they can to avoid extra time.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:42 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Mendy's off with an injury

83' Mendy falls awkwardly in a recent sequence and he gives it a go for a moment, but as soon as he gets up to attempt to run it off, he realizes he can't continue, his leg not being in the right condition to do so. Ancelotti goes to his bench and brings on F. Garcia to close out this game.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:41 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Real Madrid applying pressure

81' In a game of momentum shifts, the latest one has favored Real Madrid. Vinicius' missed penalty has not sucked the life out of the visitors, perhaps instead revitalizing their quest to find the go-ahead goal with extra time approaching. Atletico is game to return to their solid defensive shape, though, so Real Madrid haven't created a lot of clear-cut chances. Vazquez has a ball that he hopes to use to set up a nearby teammate for a goal, but the ball is cleared out for a corner and then the visitors can't do much with the in-swinging effort.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:33 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Vazquez with a header

73' Fresh off Vinicius' missed penalty, Real Madrid reboot their attacking effort and build something promising courtesy of Vinicius himself, who tries to set up a teammate for the opportunity. The pace of the ball slows at some point and so Vazquez's header, while well-timed, does not come with enough pace to cause trouble for Oblak.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:29 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Vinicius skies the ball!

71' Who saw that coming? Vinicius steps up to take the penalty and give Real Madrid the lead, a perfect candidate since he was four for four with penalty kicks this season. Somehow, though, he skies the ball and so the aggregate score is still tied at 2-2.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:28 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Penalty to Real Madrid!

68' Atletico go forward but Vinicius wins the ball back well into Real Madrid's half and kicks off the counterattack, which sees him connect with Bellingham before he passes the ball to Mbappe. Mbappe goes on an impressive run and Lenglet can't stop him outside of fouling him in the box so Real Madrid have a penalty. Vinicius will take.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:25 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Real Madrid make changes

66' Modric and Tchouameni (who's on a yellow) come off as Ancelotti goes to the bench in the hopes of finding a game-winning goal with extra time (and penalties) looming. Camavinga and Vazquez come on in their places.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:21 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Vinicius booked

61' Vinicius picks up a yellow card after tripping Simeone, which would keep him out of the first leg of the quarterfinals should Real Madrid advance.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:16 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Gimenez with the block

57' It's Real Madrid's turn to go forward and it's Bellingham who hopes to create a geme-changing moment, but Gimenez intervenes with an all-important block. There's been a lot of last ditch defending from both teams, arguably the natural complement to a back-and-forth, must-win game.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:13 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Atletico on the attack

54' Atletico are carving out chances for themselves, the latest coming with Simeone running down the right flank and forcing Real Madrid to concede a corner. The visitors keep the ball out of danger and then do so again on a subsequent corner but it looks like they've picked things up from where they left off in the first half.

[Mar 12, 2025 at 5:04 pm ET · Pardeep Cattry]

Second half underway

No changes at the half for either side.