Galatasaray 1-1 Atletico Madrid: Llorente own goal damages top eight hopes

Atletico Madrid squandered an opportunity to cement their position in the top eight of the Champions League after a 1-1 draw with Galatasaray.

The point leaves Diego Simeone’s side on 13 points in eighth ahead of the latter portion of Wednesday’s action, and the final matchday next week, though they could have been level on points with second-place Real Madrid.

It was a fast start from Atleti, which saw Julian Alvaraz hit the side-netting before Giovanni Simeone headed home from Matteo Ruggeri’s cross from the left wing to give the visitors an early lead.

However, Galatasaray equalised in the 20th minute after a moment of madness from Marcos Llorente. The right-back turned a low cross from Roland Sallai into his own net, despite being under no pressure from the opposition in the six-yard box.

Atleti dominated after the break, but struggled to find a way past Ugurcan Cakir. Alvarez saw an attempt from inside the box blocked before Giovanni Simeone’s centre across the face of goal was just out of reach of Alexander Sorloth.

David Hancko saw an effort cleared off the line by Abdulkerim Bardakci just before the hour mark, while Antoine Griezmann’s free-kick late on was tipped around the post by the goalkeeper as the visitors settled for a draw.

Qarabag, meanwhile, took a huge step towards reaching the playoff rounds after Bahlul Mustafazada’s 94th-minute winner saw them defeat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-2 in an end-to-end thriller in Baku.

7 – Julián Alvarez hasn’t scored in his last seven games in all competitions, his worst run since his arrival to @atletienglish. Blocked. pic.twitter.com/EYSA0oZ5er

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) January 21, 2026

Data Debrief: Frustration for Atleti

Simeone would have been left wondering how his side did not leave Rams Park with three points. They produced 1.43 expected goals (xG) from 15 shots to Galatasaray’s 0.5 from seven attempts, with only two of those coming in the second half.

Alvarez registered the most shots of any player (four), but failed to beat Cakir. He has not scored in his last seven games in all competitions, which is his worst run since his arrival in the Spanish capital.

Oblak, meanwhile, is the fifth player to make 100+ appearances in the Champions League under the same manager after Koke (also under Diego Simeone), Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville (all under Alex Ferguson).