Club Brugge 3-3 Atletico Madrid: Tzolis scores late to level Champions League thriller

Christos Tzolis rescued a late result for Club Brugge as they held Atletico Madrid to a 3-3 draw in their Champions League play-off first leg.

Joel Ordonez’s own goal looked set to give Atleti the win after earlier goals from Julian Alvarez and Ademola Lookman were cancelled out by Raphael Onyedika and Nicolo Tresoldi, but Tzolis had the last say in the 89th minute at Jan Breydelstadion.

Atleti were given a golden opportunity to take the lead when Joaquin Seys was penalised for handball, and Alvarez made no mistake from the penalty spot in the eighth minute.

Brugge squandered chances to equalise as Jan Oblak denied both Tresoldi and Onyedika, and the visitors managed to double their lead before the break when Lookman tapped in after Antoine Griezmann’s flick-on from a corner.

However, things quickly changed after half-time. Onyedika reacted quickest in the box after Oblak’s initial save to deny Tresoldi, and the latter then levelled proceedings as he turned Mamadou Diakhon’s low centre past the Atleti goalkeeper on the hour.

Nevertheless, Atleti were back on the front foot, and shortly after Alexander Sorloth struck the woodwork, Ordonez turned the ball into his net when trying to turn Marcos Llorente’s cross behind for a corner in the 79th minute.

There was still one last twist in the tale, though, with Tzolis finding the bottom-left corner after being played through by Onyedika to keep the tie level heading into next week’s second leg.

2 – @atletienglish have failed to win after a parial win by two goals margin for the first time in their history in @ChampionsLeague. Mistake. pic.twitter.com/RWsvnDpkNQ

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) February 18, 2026

Data Debrief: Simeone’s defence falls apart

There was little to separate the two sides, with Brugge producing 2.22 expected goals (xG) from 17 shots to Atleti’s 2.36, but Simeone’s side failed to control the tie despite taking the lead twice.

Indeed, it is the first time Atleti have failed to win in the Champions League after having a two-goal lead in a match.

But the goal from Tzolis was always coming. He registered the most shots in the match (five) and the most touches in the box (nine) as Brugge never gave up in front of their home fans.