Kieran Trippier was denied his first goal for Atlético Madrid when he was unable to score from a penalty in the second minute of their victory against Lokomotiv Moscow, but insisted that it was out of his mind as soon as Anton Kochenkov had pushed it against the post. The Englishman overcame that setback to help his side secure a place in the last 16 of the Champions League, where they have a 45% chance of meeting Liverpool or Manchester City. The former Spurs full-back, though, said he did not care whether he faces an English team.
Atlético had not scored for 300 minutes, with their coach, Diego Simeone, admitting his team were suffering from an “anxiety” in front of goal, and they were handed the perfect opportunity to end that run with a penalty awarded 44 seconds into their vital final group match against Lokomotiv. Atlético knew that they had to win for qualification to remain in their own hands but if seeing Trippier standing over the ball surprised, it was not because of the pressure or a lack of confidence among other candidates; instead it was planned, Trippier said.
Álvaro Morata had missed his only spot-kick this season and Diego Costa, who was injured, had missed one of his two. Before every game the club’s assistant coach German Burgos pins up a list of takers. This time, Tripper’s name was at the top. “Of six penalties, he scores a least six,” Simeone said, somewhat bizarrely, “but this time it wasn’t to be.” Trippier hit the penalty to Kochenkov’s right but the goalkeeper reached up his left hand and pushed the ball on to the post. He was some way off his line when it was struck but despite the VAR images being clear it was not retaken.
“I felt confident before the penalty but give the keeper credit: it was a good save,” Trippier said. “If he’s off his line or not, it’s irrelevant: he saved a penalty. I was practising in training and I was hitting the penalties well. We have a list and I was the one to take penalties today. It was planned. We were taking penalties; we do them twice a week. I have been hitting them well since I have been here, so I was confident. It was a good save. A few people say he was off his line but it’s gone now.
“Nothing like this affects me. Yeah, I missed a penalty, but it’s gone. As soon as I missed it, it was out my mind straight away. It didn’t affect me at all. I just wanted to help the team create as much as possible and we kept going. The most important thing was the win. We knew we had to put in a strong performance to qualify and I thought we were outstanding. You see how dominant we were from the first minute: we always believed we would score. I know what you’re saying about the confidence because we were not winning but it was a strong performance.”
Despite the nerves and that missed opportunity, Atlético were too good for Lokomotiv and took the lead 15 minutes later when they were awarded a second penalty. This time João Félix who took it, and he finished low to the keeper’s right. Felipe added a second before the hour after an exchange between Trippier and Koke. Trippier, asked why it did not fall to him to take the second spot-kick, said: “I’m not too sure, to be honest. The most important thing is that João fancied himself, so no problem. We have some good penalty takers in our team, so I am delighted João got a goal and Felipe as well.”
Atlético had won only once in eight games, have slipped to seventh in La Liga and needed a final night win to progress in the Champions League, but Trippier is aware that they have been beaten only twice and believes that if they can start putting away their chances – João Félix’s goal was their 62nd shot since the last time they had scored – they will be a tough prospect in the next round.
“We fancy ourselves against anybody,” Trippier said. “I know, and everybody else knows too, how good Liverpool and Man City are but if you look at the teams we can face they’re all quality. We can’t choose, so we’re looking forward to seeing who we play. It doesn’t bother me at all if we don’t get an English side.”
