Atletico Madrid eliminated Inter Milan and advanced to the Champions League quarterfinals, a feat for which Jan Oblak was delighted to be the hero.
Before Oblak made two saves in a penalty shootout that made Atletico win 3-2, goals from Memphis Depay and Antoine Griezmann cancelled out Federico Dimarco’s opening goal to equalise the last-16 match on aggregate.
When the 31-year-old keeper thought back on a dramatic night in the Spanish city, he was unable to contain his smile.
Speaking to TNT Sports on Wednesday, he said, “A wonderful night. It is always nice when you win and progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, so I am very happy for the team.
“In the last month, we have not been in good shape but today we showed we can do much more.
“I hope we can continue like that.”
This season, Diego Simeone’s team has had difficulty playing away from home, and they were behind 1-0 going into the second leg.
However, if they are to compete in the later phases of the competition, Oblak anticipates that their performances on enemy territory will improve.
He added, “Nobody understands it. I don’t know why we are like that but we need to change it. You cannot just play home games.
“In away games we lose a lot of points in LaLiga and in the Champions League we lost against Inter but we believe at home we can win.
“I think the penalties are a lottery because you can see all the videos and do all the preparation but many times players change their mind.
“Luckily I stopped two and I am happy about that.
“It is not easy to stop a penalty. It may look it from the outside but it’s not so easy because the goal is so big and sometimes it doesn’t matter if you go to the right side.”
