Manchester City, twice semi-finalists in this competition, crashed out of the Champions League in the last 32 after a 2-0 home defeat by Atlético Madrid.
There was hope in the air at the Academy Stadium before kick-off. City had travelled to Madrid and scored against the Spanish champions, it took an 89th-minute equaliser from Kenti Robles for the home side to salvage a draw despite a strong performance.
In Manchester it was a different story. Atlético, unbeaten in the Primera Division three games in, came out on a mission. Having come from two goals behind against Athletic Club on Saturday to win 4-2, the Spanish champions had found their grit.
Atlético instantly started to trouble City, who have struggled in the league with five points from three games, and took the lead four minutes in when Ludmila da Silva broke free of Abbie McManus, teased the ball across the face of goal and with the City captain, Steph Houghton, leaving it to roll, Silvia Meseguer was at the back post to tap home.
With Atlético taking the aggregate advantage for the first time in the tie, they started to turn the screw. Pressing hard they cut off City options and were able to intercept the obvious pass time and time again. With Keira Walsh and Jill Scott struggling to assert themselves in midfield, City’s brightest play came through Georgia Stanway and Lauren Hemp who combined on the left to try and carve out some space.
It took more than 20 minutes for City to have their first chance, Stanway picking up the ball on the left and hitting a fierce drive that Gallardo did well, at full stretch, to tip the ball on to the crossbar and over.
With City growing into the game a little and half-time looming, Atlético then dealt a critical blow, Da Silva racing through the middle, leaving Houghton in her wake, and powering the ball past Karen Bardsley for a well deserved second.
With nothing to lose City threw caution to the wind in the second half, three changes before the hour saw the experienced heads of Tessa Wullaert, Nadia Nadim and Caroline Weir enter the fray. However, despite Nadim’s clever chips and the energy of Parris, Stanway and Hemp, Atlético’s disciplined back line and Gallardo were rarely troubled – another long‑distance Stanway strike from the edge of the box, a Jen Beattie headed effort from a corner, ruled offside, and then an injury-time effort from Weir that rattled the crossbar their best chances of the second half.
In London, handed a much kinder tie, Chelsea put six past Sarajevo to secure their passage to the last 16 with an 11-0 aggregate triumph. An early opening goal from Drew Spence, two from Fran Kirby, the first her 50th for Chelsea, a free-kick from Maren Mjelde and late strikes from Hannah Blundell and Erin Cuthbert were added to the five they scored in the first leg in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
• Comments are premoderated to ensure the discussion is about topics addressed above
• This article was amended on 27 September 2018. An earlier version incorrectly said Atlético Madrid had “salvaged a point” in the first leg, when it should have said “salvaged a draw”.
