Jan Oblak Shines for Atletico Madrid Despite Defeat Against Real

Atletico Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak was very unfortunate to end up on the losing side after producing another excellent performance in his side’s elimination from the Champions League at the hands of city rivals Real Madrid on Wednesday night.

The towering goalkeeper made a number of good saves during the first leg at the Vicente Calderon, including a truly superb stop to prevent Gareth Bale from giving the visitors an early lead following a rare error from Diego Godin.

And he was again highly impressive on Wednesday, making two high-quality stops late in each half that nevertheless proved insufficient to see Atletico through to the last four for the second year in a row.

As noted by Dominic Vieira of Adidas, Atletico knew they were signing one of Europe’s most promising young goalkeepers when they paid €16 million to secure Oblak from Benfica last summer.

It has, however, taken the Slovenia international a little time to establish himself as Atletico’s de-facto No. 1. Miguel Angel Moya proved to be the safer pair of hands during the early part of the campaign and had firmly asserted his place at the head of the pecking order by the turn of the year.

However, Oblak took swift and full advantage of the hamstring injury Moya picked up during the second leg of Atletico’s Champions League round-of-16 success over Bayer Leverkusen in mid-March. He came on for the Spaniard in the 23rd minute of play and made a key save during the penalty shootout to help his side through to the last eight.

His subsequent performances have seen Moya relegated to the bench upon his return from injury. And any lingering doubts over which of them should be first choice were put to bed by Oblak’s display in the Bernabeu on Wednesday.

Atletico set out their stall from the opening whistle. They defended deep and allowed Madrid to come on to them, confident in their ability to hold their hosts at bay.

Diego Simeone’s men were successful in doing so for much of the tetchy opening 45 minutes, which saw plenty of arms in faces and boots left in after challenges. On the one occasion Madrid did find a way through, Oblak proved equal to the task.

In the final minute of the half, Cristiano Ronaldo received the ball inside the area only to see his first-time shot well kept out by the 22-year-old. He stayed up big and made a good, strong save.

Apart from one nervous tip behind for a corner late on, Oblak was consistently assured in his work. He displayed good handling from two or three efforts on target and came out forcefully to claim a couple of high balls into the area.

And he then produced another fantastic save with 10 minutes left to play, shortly after the harsh dismissal of Arda Turan for a second bookable offence.

James Rodriguez played a neat ball into the area to Javier Hernandez, who spun Godin and was left one-on-one with Oblak. The goalkeeper was out quickly to meet him and spread himself wide on the dive to get the merest of touches to the ball and divert it behind for a corner.

It was a truly superb stop but one that went without reward. Just as his side seemed destined to hold on for extra-time, Madrid scored the goal that broke Atleti hearts.

Oblak was little more than a helpless onlooker as Ronaldo moved into the area on a nice one-two with Rodriguez and then teed up Hernandez to finish. Atletico had nothing else to give and succumbed to a 1-0 defeat on the night and on aggregate.

It was a tough one to take for all concerned, not least Oblak, who was arguably his team’s best performer over the two legs of the tie.

His opposite number, Iker Casillas, has received a mixed reception from Madrid supporters throughout the campaign. But the 3,000-odd Atletico fans who made the short trip north of the city centre to the Bernabeu were united in their appreciation of Oblak.

Ronaldo, too, sought out the goalkeeper after the final whistle.

"

Ronaldo consolando a oblak después del partido,el chulo y prepotente,o eso dicen ... pic.twitter.com/2zRt4CgwEs

— raul gonzalez (@raulitopro) April 22, 2015"

Oblak suffered a slow start to his career in Spain, but his performances in recent weeks have been sufficient to suggest that he will be the club’s No. 1 for years to come. Success has eluded him and his side this season, but both he and Atletico are sure to return stronger next time around.